LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  BARBARA 

PRESENTED  BY 
*•  &  MRS.  FRANCIS  SEDGWICK 

in  memory  of 
CHARLES  NOYES  DE  FOREST 


HISTORY 

OF    THE 

BALDWIN  LOCOMOTIVE  WORKS 


1831  TO  1902 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  EDGELL  COMPANY 

1903 


1503 

THE  BALDWIN  LOCOMOTIVE  WORKS 


1831 
MATTHIAS   W.    BALDWIN 

1839 
BALDWIN,  VAIL   &    HUFTY 

iLowiN*  GEORGE   VAIL*  GEORGE  W.  HUFTY* 

1842-45 
BALDWIN   &    WHITNEY 

M.  W.  BALDWIN*  ASA  WHITNEY* 

1846-53 
M.  W.   BALDWIN 

1854 
M.   W.  BALDWIN   &    CO. 

M.  W.  BALDWIN*  MATTHEW   BAIRD* 

1867 
M.  BAIRD    &    CO. 

MATTHEW   BAIRD*  GEORGE   BURNHAM  CHARLES  T.  PARRY* 

1870 
M.   BAIRD    &    CO. 

MATTHEW   BAIRD*  GEORGE   BURNHAM  CHARLES  T.  PARRY* 

EDWARD   H.  WILLIAMS*  WILLIAM   P.  HENSZEY  EDWARD   LONGSTRETH 

1873 
BURNHAM,  PARRY,  WILLIAMS    &    CO. 

GEORGE   BURNHAM  CHARLES  T.  PARRY*  EDWARD   H.  WILLIAMS* 

WILLIAM    P.  HENSZEY  EDWARD   LONGSTRETH  JOHN   H.  CONVERSE 

1886 
BURNHAM,  PARRY,  WILLIAMS    &    CO. 

GEORGE   BURNHAM  CHARLES  T.  PARRY*  EDWARD   H.  WILLIAMS* 

WILLIAM   P.  HENSZEY  JOHN   H.  CONVERSE  WILLIAM   C.  STROUD* 

WILLIAM   H.  MORROW*  WILLIAM   L.  AUSTIN 

1891 
BURNHAM,  WILLIAMS   &    CO. 

GEORGE   BURNHAM  EDWARD   H.  WILLIAMS*  WILLIAM   P.  HENSZEY 

JOHN   H.  CONVERSE  WILLIAM   C.  STROUD*  WILLIAM   L.  AUSTIN 

1896 
BURNHAM,  WILLIAMS   &    CO. 

GEORGE   BURNHAM  EDWARD   H.  WILLIAMS*  WILLIAM   P".  HENSZEY 

JOHN   H.  CONVERSE  WILLIAM   L.  AUSTIN  SAMUEL  M.  VAUCLAIN 

ALBA   B.  JOHNSON  GEORGE   BURNHAM,  JR. 

1901 
BURNHAM,  WILLIAMS   &    CO. 

GEORGE   BURNHAM  WILLIAM    P.  HENSZEY  JOHN  H.  CONVERSE 

WILLIAM   L.  AUSTIN  SAMUEL   M.  VAUCLAIN  ALBA   B.  JOHNSON 

GEORGE   BURNHAM, JR. 
*NOW  DECEASED. 


SPRING  GARDEN 


BUTTONWOOD 


STREET 


1-  Flue  Department 
&  4-  Truck  &  Brake  Work 
-  Ash  Pans 


HAMILTON 


PHILADELPHIA       &       READING 


THE  BALDWIN  LOCOMOTIVE  WORKS  occupies  over 
seven  city  blocks  in  the  heart  of  Philadelphia.  The 
principal  shops  are  situated  in  the  rectangle  bounded 
on  the  north  by  Spring  Garden  Street,  on  the  east  by  Broad 
Street,  on  the  south  by  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railway 
Subway — which  gives  the  Works  track  facilities — and  on  the 
west  by  Eighteenth  Street.  Finishing  and  repair  shops  are  also 
located  at  Twenty-Eighth  Street  and  Pennsylvania  Avenue. 
The  plan  above  shows  the  area  occupied,  sixteen  acres  in  all. 
The  Works  dates  its  origin  from  the  inception  of  steam  rail- 
roads in  America.  Called  into  existence  by  the  early  require- 
ments of  the  railroad  interests  of  the  country,  it  has  grown  with 
their  growth  and  kept  pace  with  their  progress.  It  has  reflected 
in  its  career  the  successive  stages  of  American  railroad  practice, 
and  has  itself  contributed  largely  to  the  development  of  the 
locomotive  as  it  exists  to-day.  A  history  of  the  Baldwin  Loco- 
motive Works,  therefore,  is  in  a  great  measure,  a  record  of  the 


STREET 


1 

oor 
ng  Shop 

Ef 

c 

\ 

RAILWAY      SUBWAY 


progress  of  locomotive  engineering  in  this  country,  and  as  such 
cannot  fail  to  be  of  interest  to  those  who  are  concerned  in  this 
important  element  of  our  material  progress. 

MATTHIAS  W.  BALDWIN,  the  founder  of  the  establishment, 
learned  the  trade  of  a  jeweler,  and  entered  the  service  of  Fletcher 
&  Gardiner,  Jewelers  and  Silversmiths,  Philadelphia,  in  1817. 
Two  years  later  he  opened  a  small  shop,  in  the  same  line  of 
business,  on  his  own  account.  The  demand  for  articles  of  this 
character  falling  off,  however,  he  formed  a  partnership,  in  1825, 
with  David  Mason,  a  machinist,  in  the  manufacture  of  book- 
binders' tools  and  cylinders  for  calico  printing.  Their  shop  was 
in  a  small  alley  which  runs  north  from  Walnut  Street,  above 
Fourth.  They  afterwards  removed  to  Minor  Street,  below  Sixth. 
The  business  was  so  successful  that  steam  power  became  neces- 
sary in  carrying  on  their  manufactures,  and  an  engine  was  bought 
for  the  purpose.  This  proving  unsatisfactory,  Mr.  Baldwin 
decided  to  design  and  construct  one  which  should  be  specially 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


adapted  to  the  requirements  of  his  shop.  One  of  these  require- 
ments was  that  it  should  occupy  the  least  possible  space,  and  this 
was  met  by  the  construction  of  an  upright  engine  on  a  novel  and 
ingenious  plan.  On  a  bed-plate  about  five  feet  square  an  upright 
cylinder  was  placed ;  the  piston  rod  con- 
nected to  a  cross-bar  having  two  legs, 
turned  downward,  and  sliding  in  grooves 
on  the  sides  of  the  cylinder,  which  thus 
formed  the  guides.  To  the  sides  of 
these  legs,  at  their  lower  ends,  was  con- 
nected by  pivots  an  inverted  U-shaped 
frame,  prolonged  at  the  arch  into  a 
single  rod,  which  took  hold  of  the  crank 
of  a  fly  wheel  carried  by  upright  stand- 
ards on  the  bed-plate.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  length  of  the  ordinary  separate 
guide-bars  was  thus  saved,  and  the 
whole  engine  was  brought  within  the 
smallest  possible  compass.  The  design 

of  the  machine  was  not  only  unique,  but  its  workmanship  was 
so  excellent,  and  its  efficiency  so  great,  as  readily  to  procure  for 
Mr.  Baldwin  orders  for  additional  stationary  engines.  His  atten- 
tion was  thus  turned  to  steam  engineering,  and  the  way  was 
prepared  for  his  grappling  with  the  problem  of  the  locomotive 
when  the  time  should  arrive. 

This  original  stationary  engine,  constructed  prior  to  1830,  is 
still  in  good  order  and  carefully  preserved  at  the  Works.  It  has 
successively  supplied  the  power  in  six  different  departments  as 
they  have  been  opened,  from  time  to  time,  in  the  growth  of  the 
business. 

The  manufacture  of  stationary  steam  engines  thus  took  a 
prominent  place  in  the  establishment,  and  Mr.  Mason  shortly 
afterward  withdrew  from  the  partnership. 

In  1829-30  the  use  of  steam  as  a  motive  power  on  railroads 
had  begun  to  engage  the  attention  of  American  engineers.  A 
few  locomotives  had  been  imported  from  England,  and  one 
(which,  however,  was  not  successful)  had  been  constructed  at 
the  West  Point  Foundry,  in  New  York  City.  To  gratify  the 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  9 

public  interest  in  the  new  motor,  Mr.  Franklin  Peale,  then 
proprietor  of  the  Philadelphia  Museum,  applied  to  Mr.  Baldwin 
to  construct  a  miniature  locomotive  for  exhibition  in  his  establish- 
ment. With  the  aid  only  of  the  imperfect  published  descriptions 
and  sketches  of  the  locomotives  which  had  taken  part  in  the 
Rainhill  competition  in  England,  Mr.  Baldwin  undertook  the 
work,  and  on  the  25th  of  April,  1831,  the  miniature  locomotive 
was  put  in  motion  on  a  circular  track  made  of  pine  boards 
covered  with  hoop  iron,  in  the  rooms  of  the  Museum.  Two  small 
cars,  containing  seats  for  four  passengers,  were  attached  to  it, 
and  the  novel  spectacle  attracted  crowds  of  admiring  spectators. 
Both  anthracite  and  pine-knot  coal  were  used  as  fuel,  and  the 
exhaust  steam  was  discharged  into  the  chimney,  thus  utilizing  it 
to  increase  the  draught. 

The  success  of  the  model  was  such  that,  in  the  same  year, 
Mr.  Baldwin  received  an  order  for  a  locomotive  from  the  Phila- 
delphia, Germantown  and  Norristown  Railroad  Company,  whose 
short  line  of  six  miles  to  Germantown  was  operated  by  horse 
power.  The  Camden  and  Amboy  Railroad  Company  had 
shortly  before  imported  a  locomotive  from  England,  which  was 
stored  in  a  shed  at  Bordentown.  It  had  not  yet  been  put 
together;  but  Mr.  Baldwin,  in  company  with  his  friend,  Mr. 
Peale,  visited  the  spot,  inspected  the  detached  parts,  and  made  a 
few  memoranda  of  some  of  its  principal  dimensions.  Guided  by 
these  figures  and  his  experience  with  the  Peale  model,  Mr. 
Baldwin  commenced  the  task.  The  difficulties  to  be  overcome 
in  filling  the  order  can  hardly  be  appreciated  at  this  day.  There 
were  few  mechanics  competent  to  do  any  part  of  the  work  on 
a  locomotive.  Suitable  tools  were  with  difficulty  obtainable. 
Cylinders  were  bored  by  a  chisel  fixed  in  a  block  of  wood  and 
turned  by  hand.  Blacksmiths  able  to  weld  a  bar  of  iron  exceed- 
ing one  and  one-quarter  inches  in  thickness  were  few,  or  not  to 
be  had.  It  was  necessary  for  Mr.  Baldwin  to  do  much  of  the 
work  with  his  own  hands,  to  educate  the  workmen  who  assisted 
him,  and  to  improvise  tools  for  the  various  processes. 

The  work  was  prosecuted,  nevertheless,  under  all  these 
difficulties,  and  the  locomotive  was  fully  completed,  christened 
"Old  Ironsides,"  and  tried  on  the  road,  November  23,  1832. 


10 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


The  circumstances  of  the  trial  are  fully  preserved,  and  are  given, 
farther  on,  in  the  extracts  from  the  journals  of  the  day.  Despite 
some  imperfections,  naturally  occurring  in  a  first  effort,  and 
which  were  afterward  to  a  great  extent  remedied,  the  engine  was, 
for  that  early  day,  a  marked  and  gratify  ing 'success.  It  was  put 
at  once  into  service,  as  appears  from  the  company's  advertise- 
ment three  days  after  the  trial,  and  did  duty  on  the  German  town 
road  and  others  for  over  a  score  of  years. 

The  "  Ironsides  "  was  a  four-wheeled  engine,  modeled  essen- 
tially on  the  English  practice  of  that  day,  as  shown  in  the 
"Planet"  class,  and  weighed,  in  running  order,  something  over 
five  tons.  The  rear  or  driving  wheels  were  fifty-four  inches  in 


THE  "OLD  IK 


diameter  on  a  crank  axle  placed  in  front  of  the  firebox.  The 
cranks  were  thirty-nine  inches  from  center  to  center.  The  front 
wheels,  which  were  simply  carrying  wheels,  were  forty -five  inches 
in  diameter,  on  an  axle  placed  just  back  of  the  cylinders.  The 
cylinders  were  nine  and  one-half  inches  in  diameter  by  eighteen 
inches  stroke,  and  were  attached  horizontally  to  the  outside  of 
the  smokebox,  which  was  D-shaped,  with  the  sides  receding 
inwardly,  so  as  to  bring  the  center  line  of  each  cylinder  in  line 
with  the  center  of  the  crank.  The  wheels  were  made  with  heavy 
cast-iron  hubs,  wooden  spokes  and  rims,  and  wrought-iron  tires. 
The  frame  was  of  wood,  placed  outside  the  wheels.  The  boiler 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  1 1 

was  thirty  inches  in  diameter,  and  contained  seventy-two  copper 
flues,  one  and  one-half  inches  in  diameter  and  seven  feet  long. 
The  tender  was  a  four-wheeled  platform,  with  wooden  sides  and 
back,  carrying  an  iron  box  for  a  water  tank,  inclosed  in  a  wooden 
casing,  and  with  a  space  for  fuel  in  front.  The  engine  had  no 
cab.  The  valve  motion  was  at  first  given  by  a  single  loose 
eccentric  for  each  cylinder,  placed  on  the  axle  between  the  crank 
and  the  hub  of  the  wheel.  On  the  inside  of  the  eccentric  was 
a  half-circular  slot,  running  half  way  around.  A  stop  was 
fastened  to  the  axle  at  the  arm  of  the  crank,  terminating  in  a 
pin  which  projected  into  the  slot.  The  engine  was  reversed  by 
changing  the  position  of  the  eccentric  on  the  axle  by  a  lever 
operated  from  the  footboard.  This  form  of  valve  motion  was, 
however,  shortly  afterwards  changed,  and  a  single  fixed  eccentric 
for  each  cylinder  substituted.  The  rock  shafts,  which  were 
under  the  footboard,  had  arms  above  and  below7,  and  the 
eccentric  straps  had  each  a  forked  rod,  with  a  hook,  or  an  upper 
and  lower  latch  or  pin,  at  their  extremities,  to  engage  with  the 
upper  or  lower  arm  of  the  rock  shaft.  The  eccentric  rods  \vere 
raised  or  lowered  by  a  double  treadle,  so  as  to  connect  with  the 
upper  or  lower  arm  of  the  rock  shaft,  according  as  forward  or 
backward  gear  \vas  desired.  A  peculiarity  in  the  exhaust  of  the 
' '  Ironsides ' '  was  that  there  was  only  a  single  straight  pipe 
running  across  from  one  cylinder  to  the  other,  with  an  opening  in 
the  upper  side  of  the  pipe,  midway  between  the  cylinders,  to 
which  was  attached  at  right  angles  the  perpendicular  pipe  into 
the  chimney.  The  cylinders,  therefore,  exhausted  against  each 
other;  and  it  was  found,  after  the  engine  had  been  put  in  use, 
that  this  was  a  serious  objection.  This  defect  was  afterward 
remedied  by  turning  each  exhaust  pipe  upward  into  the  chimney, 
substantially  as  it  is  now  done.  The  steam  joints  were  made 
with  canvas  and  red  lead,  as  was  the  practice  in  English  locomo- 
tives, and  in  consequence  much  trouble  was  caused,  from  time  to 
time,  by  leaking. 

The  price  of  the  engine  was  to  have  been  $4000,  but  some 
difficulty  was  found  in  procuring  a  settlement.  The  company 
claimed  that  the  engine  did  not  perform  according  to  contract ; 
and  objection  was  also  made  to  some  of  the  defects  alluded  to. 


12  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN   LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 

After  these  had  been  corrected  as  far  as  possible,  however,  Mr. 
Baldwin  finally  succeeded  in  effecting  a  compromise  settlement, 
and  received  from  the  Company  $3500  for  the  machine. 

The  results  of  the  trial  and  the  impression  produced  by  it  on 
the  public  mind  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  extracts 
from  the  newspapers  of  the  day : 

The  United  States  Gazette,  of  November  24,  1832,  remarks: 

' '  A  most  gratifying  experiment  was  made  yesterday  afternoon  on  the 
Philadelphia,  Germantown  and  Norristown  Railroad.  The  beautiful  loco- 
motive engine  and  tender,  built  by  Mr.  Baldwin,  of  this  city,  whose  repu- 
tation as  an  ingenious  machinist  is  well  known,  were  for  the  first  time 
placed  on  the  road.  The  engine  traveled  about  six  miles,  working  with 
perfect  accuracy  and  ease  in  all  its  parts,  and  with  great  velocity." 

The  Chronicle  of  the  same  date  noticed  the  trial  more  at 
length,  as  follows  : 

"It  gives  us  pleasure  to  state  that  the  locomotive  engine  built  by  our 
townsman,  M.  W.  Baldwin,  has  proved  highly  successful.  In  the  presence  of 
several  gentlemen  of  science  and  information  on  such  subjects,  the  engine 
was  yesterday  placed  upon  the  road  for  the  first  time.  All  her  parts  had  been 
previously  highly  finished  and  fitted  together  in  Mr.  Baldwin's  factory. 
She  was  taken  apart  on  Tuesday,  and  removed  to  the  Company's  depot, 
and  yesterday  morning  she  was  completely  together,  ready  for  travel.  After 
the  regular  passenger  cars  had  arrived  from  Germantown  in  the  afternoon, 
the  tracks  being  clear,  preparation  was  made  for  her  starting.  The  placing 
fire  in  the  furnace  and  raising  steam  occupied  twenty  minutes.  The  engine 
(with  her  tender)  moved  from  the  depot  in  beautiful  style,  working  with 
great  ease  and  uniformity.  She  proceeded  about  half  a  mile  beyond  the 
Union  Tavern,  at  the  township  line,  and  returned  immediately,  a  distance 
of  six  miles,  at  a  speed  of  about  twenty-eight  miles  to  the  hour,  her  speed 
having  been  slackened  at  all  the  road  crossings,  and  it  being  after  dark, 
but  a  portion  of  her  power  was  used.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the 
spectators  were  delighted.  From  this  experiment  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  this  engine  will  draw  thirty  tons  gross,  at  an  average  speed  of 
forty  miles  an  hour,  on  a  level  road.  The  principal  superiority  of  the 
engine  over  any  of  the  English  ones  known  consists  in  the  light  weight, — 
which  is  but  between  four  and  five  tons,— her  small  bulk,  and  the  sim- 
plicity of  her  working  machinery.  We  rejoice  at  the  result  of  this  experi- 
ment, as  it  Conclusively  shows  that  Philadelphia,  always  famous  for  the 
skill  of  her  mechanics,  is  enabled  to  produce  steam  engines  for  railroads 
combining  so  many  superior  qualities  as  to  warrant  the  belief  that  her 
mechanics  will  hereafter  supply  nearly  all  the  public  works  of  this  descrip- 
tion in  the  country." 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  13 

On  subsequent  trials,  the  "Ironsides"  attained  a  speed  of 
thirty  miles  per  hour,  with  its  usual  train  attached.  So  great 
were  the  wonder  and  curiosity  which  attached  to  such  a  prodigy, 
that  people  flocked  to  see  the  marvel,  and  eagerly  bought  the 
privilege  of  riding  after  the  strange  monster.  The  officers  of  the 
road  were  not  slow  to  avail  themselves  of  the  public  interest  to 
increase  their  passenger  receipts,  and  the  following  advertisement 
from  Paulson's  American  Daily  Advertiser,  of  November  26, 
1832,  will  show  that  as  yet  they  regarded  the  new  machine  rather 
as  a  curiosity  and  a  bait  to  allure  travel  than  as  a  practical  every- 
day servant. 


PHILADELPHIA,     ORRMANTOWN,      AND 
NORHISTOWN  HAIL-ROAD. 
IiOCOMOTIVE     ENGINE. 

SOTICE.— The   Locomotive   Engine,  (built   bv 
M.  W.  Baldwin,  of  ti»i3  city.)   will    depart 
;LY,  when  the.weavher  is  fair,  with  a  TBAIN  OF 
PASSESBBU CABS,  commencing  ou  Mondav  the26ih 
inst.s  at  the  following  hours,  viz:— 

.  FROM  Fmi.AIMKI.Pai  A.       |      IKOM  GERMASTpWS. 

At  i-1  o'clock,  A,  M.    I      At  12  o'clock,   M, 

j"    I  o'clock,  H.  M.  «    S  o'clock,  P.  M. 

«•    3  o'clock,  P.  M.     I       «    4  o'clock,  P.  M. 

The  Cars  drawn    by    horses,  wil!  alto  depart  ss 

usual,  frora  Philadelphia  at  9  o'clock,  A.  M.,  and 

from  Gerraantown  &t   10  o'clock,  A.  M.,  and  at  the 

'above  mentioned  hours  when  the  weather  i»  not  fair. 

The  points  ot  starting,  are  from  the  Depot,  at  ihe- 
corner  of  Green  and  Ninth  street,  Philadelphia?  «m} 
from  the  Maia  street,  n«?»r  the  centre,  of  German* 
town.  'Whole  Cars  can  be  t,»ke«.  Tickets,  25 
cents. nov  24»3t  (. 


This  announcement  did  not  mean  that  in  wet  weather  horses 
would  be  attached  to  the  locomotive  to  aid  it  in  drawing  the  train, 
but  that  the  usual  horse  cars  would  be  employed  in  making  the 
trips  upon  the  road  without  the  engine. 

Upon  making  the  first  trip  to  Germantown  with  a  passenger 
train  with ; the  "  Ironsides,"  one  of  the  drivers  slipped  upon  the 
axle,  causing  the  wheels  to  track  less  than  the  gauge  of  the  road 
and  drop  in  '.between  the  rails.  It  was  also  discovered  that  the 


14  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 

valve  arrangement  of  the  pumps  was  defective,  and  they  failed 
to  supply  the  boiler  with  water.  The  shifting  of  the  driving 
wheel  upon  the  axle  fastened  the  eccentric,  so  that  it  would  not 
operate  in  backward  motion.  These  mishaps  caused  delay,  and 
prevented  the  engine  from  reaching  its  destination,  to  the  great 
disappointment  of  all  concerned.  They  were  corrected  in  a  few 
days,  and  the  machine  was  used  in  experimenting  upon  its 
efficiency,  making  occasional  trips  with  trains  to  Germantown. 
The  road  had  an  ascending  grade,  nearly  uniform,  of  thirty-two 
feet  per  mile,  and  for  the  last  half  mile  of  forty-five  feet  per  mile, 
and  it  was  found  that  the  engine  was  too  light  for  the  business 
of  the  road  upon  these  grades. 

Such  was  Mr.  Baldwin's  first  locomotive;  and  it  is  related  of 
him  that  his  discouragement  at  the  difficulties  which  he  had 
undergone  in  building  it,  and  in  finally  procuring  a  settlement  for 
it,  was  such  that  he  remarked  to  one  of  his  friends,  with  much 
decision,  "  That  is  our  last  locomotive." 

It  was  some  time  before  he  received  an  order  for  another,  but 
meanwhile  the  subject  had  become  singularly  fascinating  to  him, 
and  occupied  his  mind  so  fully  that  he  was  eager  to  work  out  his 
new  ideas  in  a  tangible  form. 

Shortly  after  the  "  Ironsides  "  had  been  placed  on  the  Ger- 
mantown road,  Mr.  E.  L.  Miller,  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,  came  to 
Philadelphia  and  made  a  careful  examination  of 
the  machine.    Mr.  Miller  had,  in  1830,  contracted 
to  furnish   a   locomotive  to  the  Charleston  and 
Hamburg   Railroad   Company,  and   accordingly 
the  engine  ' '  Best  Friend  ' '  had  been  built  under 
his  direction  at  the  West  Point  Foundry,  New 
York.    After  inspecting  the  "  Ironsides,"  he  sug- 
gested to  Mr.  Baldwin  to  visit  the  Mohawk  and 
Hudson  Railroad,  and  examine  an  English  loco- 
motive which  had  been  placed  on  that  road  in 
July,  1831,  by  Messrs.  Robert  Stephenson  &  Co., 
of  Newcastle,  England.    It  was  originally  a  four- 
HALF-CRANK        wheeled  engine  of  the  "  Planet  "  type,  with  hori- 
zontal cylinders  and  crank  axle.    The  front  wheels  of  this  engine 
were  removed  about  a  year  after  the  machine  was  put  at  work, 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 


and  a  four-wheeled  swiveling  or  "  bogie  "  truck  substituted.  The 
result  of  Mr.  Baldwin's  investigations  was  the  adoption  of  this 
design,  but  with  some  important  improvements.  Among  these 
was  the  "  half-crank,"  which  he  devised  on  his  return  from  this 
trip,  and  which  he  patented  September  10,  1834.  In  this  form 
of  crank,  the  outer  arm  is  omitted,  and  the  wrist  is  fixed  in  a 
spoke  of  the  wheel.  In  other  words,  the  wheel  itself  formed  one 
arm  of  the  crank.  The  result  sought  and  gained  was  that  the 
cranks  were  strengthened,  and,  being  at  the  extremities  of  the 
axle,  the  boiler  could  be  made  larger  in  diameter  and  placed 
lower.  The  driving  axle  could  also  be  placed  back  of  the  fire- 
box; the  connecting  rods  passing  by  the  sides  of  the  firebox 
and  taking  hold  inside  of  the  wheels.  This  arrangement  of  the 
crank  also  involved  the  placing  of  the  cylinders  outside  the 
smokebox,  as  was  done  on  the  "Ironsides." 

By  the  time  the  order  for  the  second  locomotive  was  received, 
Mr.  Baldwin  had  matured  this  device  and  was  prepared  to 
embody  it  in  practical  form.  The  order  came  from  Mr.  E.  L,. 
Miller,  in  behalf  of  the 
Charleston  and  Hamburg 
Railroad  Company,  and  the 
engine  bore  his  name,  and 
was  completed  February  18, 
1834.  It  was  on  six  wheels ; 
one  pair  being  drivers,  four 
and  a  half  feet  in  diameter, 
with  half-crank  axle  placed 
back  of  the  firebox 'as  above 
described ,  and  the  four  front 
wheels  combined  in  a  swiv- 
eling truck.  The  driving  wheels,  it  should  be  observed,  were 
cast  in  solid  bell  metal.  The  combined  wood  and  iron  wheels 
used  on  the  "Ironsides"  had  proved  objectionable,  and  Mr. 
Baldwin,  in  his  endeavors  to  find  a  satisfactory  substitute,  had 
recourse  to  brass.  June  29,  1833,  he  took  out  a  patent  for  a 
cast-brass  wheel,  his  idea  being  that  by  varying  the  hardness  of 
the  metal  the  adhesion  of  the  drivers  on  the  rails  could  be  in- 
creased or  diminished  at  will.  The  brass  wheels  on  the  "  Miller," 


BALDWIN  LOCOMOTIVE, 


1 6  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


however,  soon  wore  out,  and  the  experiment  with  this  metal  was 
not  repeated.  The  "  E.  L,.  Miller"  had  cylinders  ten  inches  in 
diameter;  stroke  of  piston,  sixteen  inches;  and  weighed,  with 
water  in  the  boiler,  seven  tons  eight  hundred- weight.  The 
boiler  had  a  high  dome  over  the  firebox ;  and  this  form  of  con- 
struction, it  may  be  noted,  was  followed,  with  a  few  exceptions, 
for  many  years. 

The  valve  motion  was  given  by  a  single  fixed  eccentric  for 
each  cylinder.  Each  eccentric  strap  had  two  arms  attached  to 
it,  one  above  and  the  other  below,  and,  as  the  driving  axle  was 
back  of  the  firebox,  these  arms  were  prolonged  backward  under 
the  footboard,  with  a  hook  on  the  inner  side  of  the  end  of  each. 
The  rock  shaft  had  arms  above  and  below  its  axis,  and  the  hooks 
of  the  two  rods  of  each  eccentric  were  moved  by  hand  levers 
so  as  to  engage  with  either  arm,  thus  producing  backward  or 
forward  gear.  This  form  of  single  eccentric,  peculiar  to  Mr. 
Baldwin,  was  in  the  interest  of  simplicity  in  the  working  parts, 
and  was  adhered  to  for  some  years.  It  gave  rise  to  an  animated 
controversy  among  mechanics  as  to  whether,  with  its  use,  it  was 
possible  to  get  a  lead  on  the  valve  in  both  directions.  Many 
maintained  that  this  was  impracticable;  but  Mr.  Baldwin  demon- 
strated by  actual  experience  that  the  reverse  was  the  case. 

Meanwhile  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  had  given 
Mr.  Baldwin  an  order  for  a  locomotive  for  the  State  Road,  as  it 
was  then  called,  from  Philadelphia  to  Columbia,  which,  up  to  that 
time,  had  been  worked  by  horses.  This  engine,  called  the  "  Lan- 
caster," was  completed  in  June,  1834.  It  was  similar  to  the 
"Miller,"  and  weighed  seventeen  thousand  pounds.  After  it 
was  placed  in  service,  the  records  show  that  it  hauled  at  one  time 
nineteen  loaded  burden  cars  over  the  highest  grades  between 
Philadelphia  and  Columbia.  This  was  characterized  at  the  time 
by  the  officers  of  the  road  as  an  "  unprecedented  performance. ' ' 
The  success  of  the  machine  on  its  trial  trips  was  such  that  the 
Legislature  decided  to  adopt  steam  power  for  working  the  road, 
and  Mr.  Baldwin  received  orders  for  several  additional  locomo- 
tives. Two  others  were  accordingly  delivered  to  the  State  in 
September  and  November  respectively  of  that  year,  and  one  was 
also  built  and  delivered  to  the  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  Railroad 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  17 

Company  during  the  same  season.  This  latter  engine,  which  was 
put  in  service  October  21,  1834,  averaged  twenty-one  thousand 
miles  per  year  to  September  15,  1840. 

Five  locomotives  were  thus  completed  in  1834,  and  the  new 
business  was  fairly  under  way.  The  building  in  Lodge  Alley,  to 
which  Mr.  Baldwin  had  removed  from  Minor  Street,  and  where 


these  engines  were  constructed,  began  to  be  found  too  contracted, 
and  another  removal  was  decided  upon.  A  location  on  Broad 
and  Hamilton  Streets  (the  site,  in  part,  of  the  present  works) 
was  selected,  and  a  three-story  L-shaped  brick  building,  fronting 
on  both  streets,  erected.  This  was  completed  and  the  business 
removed  to  it  during  the  following  year  (1835).  The  original 


1 8  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

building  was  partially  destroyed  by  fire  in  1884,  and  was  replaced 
by  a  four-story  brick  structure. 

These  early  locomotives,  built  in  1834,  were  the  types  of  Mr. 
Baldwin's  practice  for  some  years.  All,  or  nearly  all  of  them, 
embraced  several  important  devices,  which  were  the  results  of 
his  study  and  experiments  up  to  that  time.  The  devices  referred 
to  were  patented  September  10,  1834,  and  the  same  patent 
covered  the  following  four  inventions,  viz. : 

1.  The  half-crank,  and  method  of  attaching  it  to  the  driving 
wheel.     (This  has  already  been  described.) 

2.  A  new  mode  of  constructing  the  wheels  of  locomotive 
engines  and  cars.     In  this  the  hub  and  spokes  were  of  cast  iron, 
cast  together.      The  spokes  were  cast  without  a  rim,  and  ter- 
minated in  segment  flanges,  each  spoke  having  a  separate  flange 
disconnected  from  its  neighbors.     By  this  means,  it  was  claimed, 
the  injurious  effect  of  the  unequal  expansion  of  the  materials 
composing  the  wheels  was  lessened  or  altogether  prevented.     The 
flanges  bore  against  wooden   felloes,  made  in  two    thicknesses, 
and  put  together  so  as  to  break  joints.     Tenons  or  pins  pro- 
jected from  the  flanges  into  openings  made  in  the  wooden  fel- 
loes, to  keep  them  in  place.      Around  the  whole  the  tire  was 
passed  and  secured  by  bolts.     The  sketch  on  page  17  shows  the 
device. 

3.  A  new  mode  of  forming  the  joints  of  steam  and  other 
tubes.     This  was  Mr.  Baldwin's  invention  of  ground  joints  for 
steam  pipes,  which  was  a  very  valuable  improvement  over  pre- 
vious   methods    of   making  joints  with  red-lead   packing,   and 
which  rendered  it  possible  to  carry  a  much  higher  pressure  of 
steam. 

4.  A  new  mode  of  forming  the  joints  and  other  parts  of  the 
supply  pump,  and  of  locating  the  pump  itself.     This  invention 
consisted  in  making'  the  single  guide  bar  hollow  and  using  it  for 
the  pump  barrel.     The  pump  plunger  was  attached  to  the  piston 
rod  at  a  socket  or  sleeve  formed  for  the  purpose,  and  the  hol- 
low guide  bar  terminated  in  the  vertical  pump  chamber.     This 
chamber  was  made  in  two  pieces,  joined  about  midway  between 
the  induction  and  eduction  pipes.     This  joint  was  ground  steam- 
tight,  as  were  also   the  joints  of   the  induction  pipe   with   the 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 


bottom  of  the  lower  chamber,  and  the  flange  of  the  eduction  pipe 
with  the  top  of  the  upper  chamber.  All  these  parts  were  held 
together  by  a  stirrup  with  a  set-screw  in  its  arched  top,  and  the 
arrangement  was  such  that  by  simply  unscrewing  this  set-screw 
the  different  sections  of  the  chamber,  with  all  the  valves,  could 
be  taken  apart  for  cleaning  or  adjusting.  The  cut  below  illus- 
trates the  device. 

It  is  probable  that  the  five  engines  built  during  1834  embodied 
all,  or  nearly  all,  these  devices.  They  all  had  the  half-crank, 
the  ground  joints  for  steam  pipes  (which  were  first  made  by  him 


PUMP  AND  STIRRUP 

in  1833),  and  the  pump  formed  in  the  guide  bar,  and  all  had  the 
four-wheeled  truck  in  front,  and  a  single  pair  of  drivers  back  of 
the  firebox.  On  this  position  of  the  driving  wheels  Mr.  Baldwin 
laid  great  stress,  as  it  made  a  more  even  distribution  of  the 
weight,  throwing  about  one-half  on  the  drivers  and  one-half  on 
the  four-wheeled  truck.  It  also  extended  the  wheel  base,  making 
the  engine  much  steadier  and  less  damaging  to  the  track.  Mr. 
William  Norris,  who  had  established  a  locomotive  works  in 
Philadelphia  in  1832,  was  at  this  time  building  a  six-wheeled 
engine  with  a  truck  in  front  and  the  driving  wheels  placed  in 


20  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    I.OCOMOTIVK    WORKS 

front  of  the  firebox.  Considerable  rivalry  naturally  existed  be- 
tween the  two  manufacturers  as  to  the  comparative  merits  of  their 
respective  plans.  In  Mr.  Norris'  engine,  the  position  of  the 
driving  axle  in  front  of  the  firebox  threw  on  it  more  of  the 
weight  of  the  engine,  and  thus  increased  the  adhesion  and  the 
tractive  power.  Mr.  Baldwin,  however,  maintained  the  supe- 
riority of  his  plan,  as  giving  a  better  distribution  of  the  weight 
and  a  longer  wheel  base,  and  consequently  rendering  the  machine 
less  destructive  to  the  track.  As  the  iron  rails  then  in  use  were 
generally  light,  and  much  of  the  track  was  of  wood,  this  feature 
was  of  some  importance. 

To  the  use  of  the  ground  joint  for  steam  pipes,  however, 
much  of  the  success  of  his  early  engines  was  due.  The  English 
builders  were  making  locomotives  with  canvas  and  red-lead 
joints,  permitting  a  steam  pressure  of  only  sixty  pounds  per  inch 
to  be  carried,  while  Mr.  Baldwin's  machines  were  worked  at  one 
hundred  and  twenty  pounds  with  ease.  Several  locomotives  im- 
ported from  England  at  about  this  period  by  the  Commonwealth 
of  Pennsylvania  for  the  State  Road  (three  of  which  were  made 
by  Stephenson)  had  canvas  and  red-lead  joints,  and  their  efficiency 
was  so  much  less  than  that  of  the  Baldwin  engines,  on  account 
of  this  and  other  features  of  construction,  that  they  were  soon 
laid  aside  or  sold. 

In  June,  1834,  a  patent  was  issued  to  Mr.  E.  L,.  Miller,  by 
whom  Mr.  Baldwin's  second  engine  was  ordered,  for  a  method  of 
increasing  the  adhesion  of  a  locomotive  by  throwing  a  part  of  the 
weight  of  the  tender  on  the  rear  of  the  engine,  thus  increasing 
the  weight  on  the  drivers.  Mr.  Baldwin  adopted  this  device 
on  an  engine  built  for  the  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  Railroad 
Company,  May,  1835,  and  thereafter  used  it  largely,  paying  one 
hundred  dollars  royalty  for  each  engine.  Eventually  (  May  6, 
1839,)  he  bought  the  patent  for  nine  thousand  dollars,  evidently 
considering  that  the  device  was  especially  valuable,  if  not  indis- 
pensable, in  order  to  render  his  engine  as  powerful,  when 
required,  as  other  patterns  having  the  driving  wheels  in  front 
of  the  firebox,  and  therefore  utilizing  more  of  the  weight  of  the 
engine  for  adhesion. 

In  making  the  truck  and  tender  wheels  of  these  early  locomo- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


tives,  the  hubs  were  cast  in  three  pieces  and  afterwards  banded 
with  wrought  iron,  the  interstices  being  filled  with  spelter.  This 
method  of  construction  was  adopted  on  account  of  the  difficulty 
then  found  in  casting  a  chilled  wheel  in  one  solid  piece. 

Early  in  1835,  the  new  shop  on  Broad  Street  was  completed 
and  occupied.  Mr.  Baldwin's  attention  was  thenceforward  given 
to  locomotive  building  exclusively,  except  that  a  stationary 
engine  was  occasionally  constructed. 

In  May,  1835,  his  eleventh  locomotive,  the  "Black  Hawk," 
was  delivered  to  the  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  Railroad  Com- 
pany. This  was  the  first  outside-connected  engine  of  his  build. 
It  was  also  the  first  engine  on  which  the  Miller  device  of  attach- 
ing part  of  the  weight  of  the  tender  to  the  engine  was  employed. 
On  the  eighteenth  engine,  the  "Brandywine,"  built  for  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Columbia  Railroad  Company,  brass  tires  were  used 
on  the  driving  wheels,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  more  adhe- 
sion ;  but  they  wore  out  rapidly  and  were  replaced  with  iron . 

April  3,  1835,  Mr.  Baldwin  took  out  a  patent  for  certain  im- 
provements in  the  wheels  and  tubes  of  locomotive  engines.  That 
relating  to  the  wheels  provided  for  casting  the  hub  and  spokes 
together,  and  having  the  spokes  terminate  in  segments  of  a  rim; 
as  described  in  his  patent  of  September  10,  1834.  Between  the 
ends  of  the  spokes  and  the  tires,  wood  was  interposed,  and  the 
tire  might  be  either  of  wrought  iron  or  of  chilled  cast  iron .  The 
intention  was  expressed  of  making  the  tire  usually  of  cast  iron 
chilled.  The  main  object,  however,  was  declared  to  be  the  inter- 
position between  the  spokes  and  the  rim  of  a  layer  of  wood  or 
other  substance  possessing  some  degree  of  elasticity.  This 
method  of  making  driving  \vheels  was  followed  for  several  years, 
the  tires  being  made  with  a  shoulder.  See  illustration  on  page  22. 

The  improvement  in  locomotive  tubes  consisted  in  driving  a 
copper  ferrule  or  thimble  on  the  outside  of  the  end  of  the  tube, 
and  soldering  it  in  place,  instead  of  driving  a  ferrule  into  the 
tube  as  had  previously  been  the  practice.  The  object  of  the  latter 
method  had  been  to  make  a  tight  joint  with  the  tube  sheet ;  but 
by  putting  the  ferrule  on  the  outside  of  the  tube,  not  only  was 
the  joint  made  as  tight  as  before,  but  the  tube  was  strengthened, 
and  left  unobstructed  throughout  to  the  full  extent  of  its 


22  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

diameter.  This  method  of  setting  flues  has  been  generally  fol- 
lowed in  the  works  from  that  date  to  the  present,  the  only 
difference  being  that,  at  this  time,  with  iron  tubes,  the  end  is 
swedged  down,  the  copper  ferrule  brazed  on,  and  the  iron  end 
turned  or  riveted  over  against  the  copper  thimble  and  the  flue 
sheet  to  make  the  joint  perfect. 


E 


1 


DRIVING  WHEELS,  PATENTED  SEPTEMBER,  1834 

Fourteen  engines  were  constructed  in  1835  ;  forty  in  1836  ; 
forty  in  1837;  twenty-three  in  1838;  twenty-six  in  1839;  and 
nine  in  1840.  During  all  these  years  the  general  design  con- 
tinued the  same ;  but,  in  compliance  with  the  demand  for  more 
power,  three  sizes  were  furnished,  as  follows  : 

First  class.     Cylinders,  12^  X  16  ;  weight  loaded,  26,000  pounds. 
Second  class.         "          12      X  16 ;        "  "       23,000      " 

Third  class.  "          io)4  X  16 ;        "  "       20,000      " 

The  first-class  engine  he  fully  believed,  in  1838,  was  as  heavy 
as  would  be  called  for,  and  he  declared  that  it  was  as  large  as  he 
intended  to  make.  Most  of  the  engines  were  built  with  the  half- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  23 


crank,  but  occasionally  an  outside-connected  machine  was  turned 
out.  These  latter,  however,  failed  to  give  as  complete  satisfac- 
tion as  the  half-crank  machine.  The  drivers  were  generally  four 
and  a  half  feet  in  diameter. 

A  patent  was  issued  to  Mr.  Baldwin,  August  17,  1835,  for 
his  device  of  cylindrical  pedestals.  In  this  method  of  con- 
struction, the  pedestal  was  of  cast  iron,  and  was  bored  in  a  lathe 
so  as  to  form  two  concave  jaws.  The  boxes  were  also  turned  in 
a  lathe  so  that  their  vertical  ends  were  cylindrical,  and  they  were 
thus  fitted  in  the  pedestals.  This  method  of  fitting  up  pedestals 
and  boxes  was  cheap  and  effective,  and  was  used  for  some  years 
for  the  driving  and  tender  wheels. 

As  showing  the  estimation  in  which  these  early  engines  were 
held ,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  refer  to  the  opinions  of  some 
of  the  railroad  managers  of  that  period. 

Mr.  L,.  A.  Sykes,  engineer  of  the  New  Jersey  Transportation 
Company,  under  date  of  June  12,  1838,  wrote  that  he  could  draw 
with  his  engines  twenty  four-wheeled  cars  with  twenty-six 
passengers  each,  at  a  speed  of  twenty  to  twenty-five  miles  per 
hour,  over  grades  of  twenty-six  feet  per  mile.  "As  to  simplicity 
of  construction,"  he  adds  "small  liability  to  get  out  of  order, 
economy  of  repairs,  and  ease  to  the  road,  I  fully  believe  Mr. 
Baldwin's  engines  stand  unrivalled.  I  consider  the  simplicity  of 
the  engine,  the  arrangement  of  the  working  parts,  and  the  distri- 
bution of  the  weight,  far  superior  to  any  engine  I  have  ever  seen, 
either  of  American  or  English  manufacture,  and  I  have  not  the 
least  hesitation  in  saying  that  Mr.  Baldwin's  engine  will  do  the 
same  amount  of  work  with  much  less  repairs,  either  to  the  engine 
or  the  track,  than  any  other  engine  in  use." 

L,.  G.  Cannon,  President  of  the  Rensselaer  and  Saratoga  Rail- 
road Company,  writes  :  "  Your  engines  will,  in  performance  and 
cost  of  repairs,  bear  comparison  with  any  other  engine  made  in 
this  or  any  other  country." 

Some  of  Mr.  Baldwin's  engines  on  the  State  Road,  in  1837, 
cost,  for  repairs,  only  from  one  and  two-tenths  to  one  and  six- 
tenths  cents  per  mile.  It  is  noted  that  the  engine  "West 
Chester,"  on  the  same  road,  weighing  twenty  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds  (ten  thousand  four  hundred  and 


24  HISTORY    OK    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 


seventy-five  on  drivers),  drew  fifty-one  cars  (four-wheeled), 
weighing  two  hundred  and  eighty-nine  net  tons,  over  the  road, 
some  of  the  track  being  of  wood  covered  with  strap-rail. 

The  financial  difficulties  of  1836,  and  1837,  which  brought 
ruin  upon  so  many,  did  not  leave  Mr.  Baldwin  unscathed.  His 
embarrassments  became  so  great  that  he  was  unable  to  proceed, 
and  was  forced  to  call  his  creditors  together  for  a  settlement. 
After  offering  to  surrender  all  his  property,  his  shop,  tools,  house 
and  everything,  if  they  so  desired, — all  of  which  would  realixe 
only  about  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  their  claims, — he  proposed 
to  them  that  they  should  permit  him  to  go  on  with  the  business, 
and  in  three  years  he  would  pay  the  full  amount  of  all  claims, 
principal  and  interest.  This  was  finally  acceded  to,  and  the 
promise  was  in  effect  fulfilled,  although  not  without  an  extension 
of  two  years  beyond  the  time  originally  proposed. 

In  May,  1837,  the  number  of  hands  employed  was  three 
hundred,  but  this  number  was  reducing  weekly,  owing  to  the 
falling  off  in  the  demand  for  engines. 

These  financial  troubles  had  their  effect  on  the  demand  for 
locomotives,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  decrease  in  the  number  built 
in  1838,  1839,  and  1840  ;  and  this  result  was  furthered  by  the 
establishment  of  several  other  locomotive  works,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  other  patterns  of  engines. 

The  changes  and  improvements  in  details  made  during  these 
years  may  be  summed  up  as  follows : 

The  subject  of  burning  anthracite  coal  had  engaged  much 
attention.  In  October,  1836,  Mr.  Baldwin  secured  a  patent  for  a 
grate  or  fireplace  which  could  be  detached  from  the  engine  at 
pleasure,  and  a  new  one  with  a  fresh  coal  fire  substituted.  The 
intention  was  to  have  the  grate  with  freshly-ignited  coal  all  ready 
for  the  engine  on  its  arrival  at  a  station,  and  placed  between  the 
rails  over  suitable  levers,  by  which  it  could  be  attached  quickly 
to  the  firebox.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  was  never  prac- 
ticed. In  January,  1838,  however,  Mr.  Baldwin  was  experiment- 
ing with  the  consumption  of  coal  on  the  Gerniantown  road,  and  in 
July  of  the  same  year  the  records  show  that  he  was  making  a 
locomotive  to  burn  coal,  part  of  the  arrangement  being  to  blow 
the  fire  with  a  fan. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  25 


Up  to  1838,  Mr.  Baldwin  had  made  both  driving  and  truck 
wheels  with  wrought  tires,  but  during  that  year  chilled  wheels 
for  engine  and  tender  trucks  were  adopted.  His  tires  were 
furnished  by  Messrs.  S.  Vail  &  Son,  Morristown,  N.  J.,  who 
made  the  only  tires  then  obtainable  in  America.  They  were 
very  thin,  being  only  one  inch  to  one  and  a  half  inches  thick  ; 
and  Mr.  Baldwin,  in  importing  some  tires  from  England  at  that 
time,  insisted  on  their  being  made  double  the  ordinary  thickness. 
The  manufacturers  at  first  objected  and  ridiculed  the  idea,  the 
practice  being  to  use  two  tires  when  extra  thickness  was  wanted, 
but  finally  they  consented  to  meet  his  requirements. 

All  his  engines  thus  far  had  the  single  eccentric  for  each 
valve,  but  at  about  this  period  double  eccentrics  were  adopted, 
each  terminating  in  a  straight  hook,  and  reversed  by  hand  levers. 

At  this  early  period,  Mr.  Baldwin  had  begun  to  feel  the 
necessity  of  making  all  like  parts  of  locomotives  of  the  same  class 
in  such  manner  as  to  be  absolutely  interchangeable.  Steps  were 
taken  in  this  direction,  but  it  was  not  until  many  years  after- 
wards that  the  system  of  standard  gauges  was  perfected,  which  has 
since  grown  to  be  a  distinguishing  feature  in  the  establishment. 

In  March,  1839,  Mr.  Baldwin's  records  show  that  he  was 
building  a  number  of  outside-connected  engines,  and  had  suc- 
ceeded in  making  them  strong  and  durable.  He  was  also  making 
a  new  chilled  wheel,  and  one  which  he  thought  would  not  break. 

On  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-sixth  locomotive,  completed 
October  18,  1839,  for  the  Philadelphia,  Germantown  and  Norris- 
town  Railroad,  the  old  pattern  of  wooden  frame  was  abandoned, 
and  no  outside  frame  whatever  was  employed, — the  machinery, 
as  well  as  the  truck  and  the  pedestals  of  the  driving  axles,  being 
attached  directly  to  the  naked  boiler.  The  wooden  frame  thence- 
forward disappeared  gradually,  and  an  iron  frame  took  its  place. 
Another  innovation  was  the  adoption  of  eight-wheeled  tenders, 
the  first  of  which  was  built  at  about  this  period. 

April  8,  1839,  Mr.  Baldwin  associated  with  himseli  Messrs, 
Vail  &  Hufty,  and  the  business  was  conducted  under  the  firm 
name  of  Baldwin,  Vail  &  Hufty  until  1841,  when  Mr.  Hufty 
withdrew,  and  Baldwin  &  Vail  continued  the  copartnership  until 
1842. 


26  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 


The  time  had  now  arrived  when  the  increase  of  business  on 
railroads  demanded  more  powerful  locomotives.  It  had  for  some 
years  been  felt  that  for  freight  traffic  the  engine  with  one  pair  of 
drivers  was  insufficient.  Mr.  Baldwin's  engine  had  the  single 
pair  of  drivers  placed  back  of  the  firebox  ;  that  made  by  Mr. 
Xorris,  one  pair  in  front  of  the  firebox.  An  engine  with  two 
pairs  of  drivers,  one  pair  in  front  and  one  pair  behind  the  firebox, 
was  the  next  logical  step,  and  Mr.  Henry  R.  Campbell,  of  Phila- 
delphia, was  the  first  to  carry  this  design  into  execution.  Mr. 
Campbell,  as  has  been  noted,  was  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the 
Germantown  Railroad  when  the  ' '  Ironsides  ' '  was  placed  on  that 
line,  and  had  since  given  much  attention  to  the  subject  of  loco- 
motive construction.  February  5,  1836,  Mr.  Campbell  secured  a 
patent  for  an  eight- wheeled  engine  with  four  drivers  connected, 
and  a  four-wheeled  truck  in  front ;  and  subsequently  contracted 
with  James  Brooks,  of  Philadelphia,  to  build  for  him  such  a 
machine.  The  work  was  begun  March  16,  1836,  and  the  engine 
was  completed  May  8,  1837,  This  was  the  first  eight-wheeled 
engine  of  this  type,  and  from  it  the  standard  American  locomotive 
of  to-day  takes  its  origin.  The  engine  lacked,  however,  one 
essential  feature;  there  were  no  equalizing  beams  between  the 
drivers,  and  nothing  but  the  ordinary  steel  springs  over  each 
journal  of  the  driving  axles  to  equalize  the  weight  upon  them. 
It  remained  for  Messrs.  Eastwick  &  Harrison  to  supply  this 
deficiency  ;  and  in  1837  that  firm  constructed  at  their  shop  in 
Philadelphia,  a  locomotive  on  this  plan,  but  with  the  driving 
axles  running  in  a  separate  square  frame,  connected  to  the  main 
frame  above  it  by  a  single  central  bearing  on  each  side.  This 
engine  had  cylinders  twelve  by  eighteen,  four  coupled  driving 
wheels,  forty-four  inches  in  diameter,  carrying  eight  of  the  twelve 
tons  constituting  the  total  weight.  Subsequently,  Mr.  Joseph 
Harrison,  Jr.,  of  the  same  firm,  substituted  "  equalizing  beams" 
on  engines  of  this  plan  afterwards  constructed  by  them,  sub- 
stantially in  the  same  manner  as  since  generally  employed. 

In  the  American  Railroad  Journal  of  July  30,  1836,  a  wood- 
cut showing  Mr.  Campbell's  engine,  together  with  an  elaborate 
calculation  of  the  effective  power  of  an  engine  on  this  plan,  by 
William  J.  L,ewis,  Esq.,  Civil  Engineer,  was  published,  with  a 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  27 

* 

table  showing  its  performance  upon  grades  ranging  from  a  dead 
level  to  a  rise  of  one  hundred  feet  per  mile.  Mr.  Campbell 
stated  that  his  experience  at  that  time  (1835-36)  convinced  him 
that  grades  of  one  hundred  feet  rise  per  mile  would,  if  roads 
were  judiciously  located,  carry  railroads  over  any  of  the  moun- 
tain passes  in  America,  without  the  use  of  planes  with  stationary 
steam  pow7er,  or,  as  a  general  rule,  of  costly  tunnels, — an  opinion 
very  extensively  verified  by  the  experience  of  the  country  since 
that  date. 

A  step  had  thus  been  taken  towards  a  plan  of  locomotive 
having  more  adhesive  power.  Mr.  Baldwin,  however,  was  slow 
to  adopt  the  new  design.  He  naturally  regarded  innovations 
with  distrust.  He  had  done  much  to  perfect  the  old  pattern  of 
engine,  and  had  built  over  a  hundred  of  them,  which  were  in  suc- 
cessful operation  on  various  railroads.  Many  of  the  details  were 
the  subjects  of  his  several  patents,  and  had  been  greatly  simplified 
in  his  practice.  In  fact,  simplicity  in  all  the  wrorking  parts  had 
been  so  largely  his  aim,  that  it  was  natural  that  he  should 
distrust  any  plan  involving  additional  machinery,  and  he  regarded 
the  new  design  as  only  an  experiment  at  best.  In  November, 
1838,  he  wrote  to  a  correspondent  that  he  did  not  think  there 
was  any  advantage  in  the  eight- wheeled  engine.  There  being 
three  points  in  contact,  it  could  not  turn  a  curve,  he  argued, 
without  slipping  one  or  the  other  pair  of  wheels  sideways. 
Another  objection  was  in  the  multiplicity  of  machinery  and  the 
difficulty  in  maintaining  four  driving  wheels  all  of  exactly  the 
same  size.  Some  means,  however,  of  getting  more  adhesion 
must  be  had,  and  the  result  of  his  reflections  upon  this  subject 
was  the  project  of  a  "geared  engine."  In  August,  1839,  he 
took  steps  to  secure  a  patent  for  such  a  machine,  and  December 
31,  1840,  letters  patent  were  granted  him  for  the  device.  In  this 
engine,  an  independent  shaft  or  axle  was  placed  between  the 
two  axles  of  the  truck,  and  connected  by  cranks  and  coupling 
rods  with  cranks  on  the  outside  of  the  driving  wheels.  This 
shaft  had  a  central  cog-wheel  engaging  on  each  side  with 
intermediate  cog-wheels,  which  in  turn  geared  into  cog-wheels 
on  each  truck  axle.  The  intermediate  cog-wheels  had  wide  teeth, 
so  that  the  truck  could  pivot  while  the  main  shaft  remained 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


parallel  with  the  driving  axle.  The  diameters  of  the  cog-wheels 
were,  of  course,  in  such  proportion  to  the  driving  and  truck 
wheels  that  the  latter  should  revolve  as  much  oftener  than  the 
drivers  as  their  smaller  size  might  require.  Of  the  success  of 
this  machine  for  freight  service,  Mr.  Baldwin  was  very  sanguine. 
One  was  put  in  hand  at  once,  completed  in  August,  1841, 
and  eventually  sold  to  the  Sugarloaf  Coal  Company.  It 
was  an  outside-connected  engine,  weighing  thirty  thousand 
pounds,  of  which  eleven  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  pounds  were  on  the  drivers,  and  eighteen  thousand  three 
hundred  and  thirty-five  on  the  truck.  The  driving  wheels  were 
forty-four  and  the  truck  wheels  thirty-three  inches  in  diameter. 
The  cylinders  were  thirteen  inches  in  diameter  by  sixteen  inches 
stroke.  On  a  trial  of  the  engine  upon  the  Philadelphia  and 
Reading  Railroad,  it  hauled  five  hundred  and  ninety  tons  from 
Reading  to  Philadelphia  —  a  distance  of  fifty-four  miles — in  five 
hours  and  twenty -two  minutes.  The  superintendent  of  the 
road,  in  writing  of  the  trial,  remarked  that  this  train  was  un- 
precedented in  length  and  weight  both  in  America  and  Europe. 
The  performance  was  noticed  in  favorable  terms  by  the  Phila- 
delphia newspapers,  and  was  made  the  subject  of  a  report  by  the 
Committee  on  Science  and  Arts  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  who 
strongly  recommended  this  plan  of  engine  for  freight  service. 
The  success  of  the  trial  led  Mr.  Baldwin  at  first  to  believe  that 
the  geared  engine  would  be  generally  adopted  for  freight  traffic  ; 
but  in  this  he  was  disappointed.  No  further  demand  was  made 
for  such  machines,  and  no  more  of  them  were  built. 

In  1840,  Mr.  Baldwin  received  an  order,  through  August 
Belmont,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  for  a  locomotive  for  Austria,  and 
had  nearly  completed  one  which  was  calculated  to  do  the  work 
required,  when  he  learned  that  only  sixty  pounds  pressure  of 
steam  was  admissible,  whereas  his  engine  was  designed  to  use 
steam  at  one  hundred  pounds  and  over.  He  according!)'  con- 
structed another,  meeting  this  requirement,  and  shipped  it  in  the 
following  year.  This  engine,  it  may  be  noted,  had  a  kind  of 
link  motion,  agreeably  to  the  specification  received,  and  was  the 
first  of  his  make  upon  which  the  link  was  introduced. 

Mr.  Baldwin's  patent  of  December  31,  1840,  already  referred 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  29 

to  as  covering  his  geared  engine,  embraced  several  other  devices, 
as  follows : 

1.  A  method  of  operating  a  fan,  or  blowing  wheel,  for  the 
purpose  of  blowing  the  fire.     The  fan  was  to  be  placed  under 
the  footboard,  and  driven  by  the  friction  of  a  grooved  pulley  in 
contact  with  the  flange  of  the  driving  wheel. 

2.  The  substitution   of  a   metallic   stuffing,   consisting  of 
wire,   for  the  hemp,   wool,   or    other  material  which  had  been 
employed  in  stuffing  boxes. 

3.  The  placing  of  the  springs  of  the  engine  truck  so  as  to 
obviate  the  evil   of  the  locking  of  the  wheels  when  the  truck 
frame  vibrates  from  the  center  pin  vertically.     Spiral  as  well  as 
semi-elliptic  springs,  placed  at  each  end  of  the  truck  frame,  were 
specified.      The  spiral  spring  is  described  as  received  in  two  cups, 
— one  above  and  one  below.     The  cups  were  connected  together 
at  their  centers,  by  a  pin  upon  one  and  a  socket  in  the  other,  so 
that  the  cups  could  approach  toward  or  recede  from  each  other 
and  still  preserve  their  parallelism. 

4.  An   improvement  in  the  manner  of  constructing  the  iron 
frames  of  locomotives,  by  making  the  pedestals  in  one  piece  with 
and  constituting  part  of,  the  frames. 

5.  The  employment  of  spiral  springs  in  connection  with 
cylindrical   pedestals   and   boxes.     A   single  spiral  was  at   first 
used,  but,  not  proving  sufficiently  strong,  a  combination  or  nest 
of  spirals  curving  alternately  in   opposite  directions  was  after- 
ward employed.     Each  spiral  had  its  bearing  in  a  spiral  recess 
in  the  pedestal. 

In  the  specification  of  this  patent  a  change  in  the  method  of 
making  cylindrical  pedestals  and  boxes  is  noted.  Instead  of 
boring  and  turning  them  in  a  lathe,  they  were  cast  to  the  required 
shape  in  chills.  This  method  of  construction  was  used  for  a 
time,  but  eventually  a  return  was  made  to  ,the  original  plan,  as 
giving  a  more  accurate  job. 

In  1842,  Mr.  Baldwin  constructed,  under  an  arrangement 
with  Mr.  Ross  Winans,  three  locomotives  for  the  Western  Rail- 
road, of  Massachusetts,  on  a  plan  which  had  been  designed  by 
that  gentleman  for  freight  traffic.  These  machines  had  upright 
boilers  and  horizontal  cylinders,  which  worked  cranks  on  a  shaft 


30  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

bearing  cog-wheels  engaging  with  other  cog-wheels  on  an  inter- 
mediate shaft.  This  latter  shaft  had  cranks  coupled  to  four 
driving  wheels  on  each  side.  These  engines  were  constructed 
to  burn  anthracite  coal.  Their  peculiarly  uncouth  appearance 


earned  for  them  the  name  of  "  crabs,"  and  they  were  but  short- 
lived in  service. 

But  to  return  to  the  progress  of  Mr.  Baldwin's  locomotive 
practice.  The  geared  engine  had  not  proved  a  success.  It  was 
unsatisfactory,  as  well  to  its  designer  as  to  the  railroad  com- 
munity. The  problem  of  utilizing  more  or  all  of  the  weight  of 
the  engine  for  adhesion  remained,  in  Mr.  Baldwin's  view,  yet  to 


be  solved.  The  plan  of  coupling  four  or  six  wheels  had  long 
before  been  adopted  in  England,  but  on  the  short  curves  preva- 
lent on  American  railroads  he  felt  that  something  more  was 
necessary.  The  wheels  must  not  only  be  coupled,  but  at  the  same 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  31 

time  must  be  free  to  adapt  themselves  to  a  curve.  These  two 
conditions  were  apparently  incompatible,  and  to  reconcile  these 
inconsistencies  was  the  task  which  Mr.  Baldwi'n';'set  himself  to 
accomplish.  He  undertook  it,  too,  at  a  time  when  his  business 
had  fallen  off  greatly  and  he  was  involved  in  the  most  serious 
financial  embarrassments.  The  problem  was  constantly  before 
him,  and  at  length,  during  a  sleepless  night,  its  solution  flashed 
across  his  mind.  The  plan  so  long  sought  for,  and  which,  sub- 
sequently more  than  any  other  of  his  improvements  or  inven- 
tions, contributed  to  the  foundation  of  his  fortune,  was  his  well- 
known  six-wheels-connected  locomotive  with  the  four  front 
drivers  combined  in  a  flexible  truck.  For  this  machine  Mr. 
Baldwin  secured  a  patent,  August  25,  1842.  Its  principal  char- 
acteristic features  are  now  matters  of  history,  but  they  deserve 
here  a  brief  mention.  The  engine  was  on  six  wheels,  all  con- 


n     LI     u 


nected  as  drivers.  The  rear  wheels  were  placed  rigidly  in  the 
frames,  usually  behind  the  firebox,  with  inside  bearings.  The 
cylinders  were  inclined,  and  with  outside  connections.  The  four 
remaining  wheels  had  inside  journals  running  in  boxes  held  by 
two  wide  and  deep  wrought-iroii  beams,  one  on  each  side.  These 
beams  were  unconnected,  and  entirely  independent  of  each  other. 
The  pedestals  formed  in  them  were  bored  out  cylindrically,  and 
into  them  cylindrical  boxes,  as  patented  by  him  in  1835,  were 
fitted.  The  engine  frame  on  each  side  was  directly  over  the 
beam,  and  a  spherical  pin,  running  down  from  the  frame,  bore  in 
a  socket  in  the  beam  midway  between  the  two  axles.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  each  side  beam  independently  could  turn  hori- 
zontally or  vertically  under  the  spherical  pin,  and  the  cylindrical 
boxes  couJS  also  turn  in  the  pedestals.  Hence,  in  passing  a 
curve,  the  middle  pair  of  drivers  could  move  laterally  in  one 


32  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

direction — say  to  the  right — while  the  front  pair  could  move  in 
the  opposite  direction,  or  to  the  left;  the  two  axles  all  the  while 
remaining  parallel  to  each  other  and  to  the  rear  driving  axle. 
The  operation  of  these  beams,  was  therefore,  like  that  of  the 
parallel  ruler.  On  a  straight  line  the  iwo  beams  and  the  two 
axles  formed  a  rectangle;  on  curves,  a  parallelogram,  the  angles 
varying  with  the  degree  of  curvature.  The  coupling  rods  were 
made  with  cylindrical  brasses,  thus  forming  ball-and-socket 
joints,  to  enable  them  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  lateral 
movements  of  the  wheels.  Colburn,  in  his  "Locomotive  Engi- 
neering, ' '  remarks  of  this  arrangement  of  rods  as  follows : 

"  Geometrically,  no  doubt,  this  combination  of  wheels  could  only  work 
properly  around  curves  by  a  lengthening  and  shortening  of  the  rods  which 
served  to  couple  the  principal  pair  of  driving  wheels  with  the  hind  truck 
wheels.  But  if  the  coupling  rods  from  the  principal  pair  of  driving  wheels 
be  five  feet  long,  and  if  the  beams  of  the  truck  frame  be  four  feet  long 
(the  radius  of  curve  described  by  the  axle  boxes  around  the  spherical  side 
bearings  being  two  feet) ,  then  the  total  corresponding  lengthening  of  the 
coupling  rods,  in  order  to  allow  the  hind  truck  wheels  to  move  one  inch  to 
one  side,  and  the  front  wheels  of  the  truck  one  inch  to  the  other  side  of 
their  normal  position  on  a  straight  line  would  be  j  60--  i- — 60-  24 — 
j  24* — I2  =0.0275  inch,  or  less  than  one  thirty-second  of  an  inch.  And  if 
only  one  pair  of  driving  wheels  were  thus  coupled  with  a  four-wheeled 
truck,  the  total  wheel  base  being  nine  feet,  the  motion  permitted  by  this 
slight  elongation  of  the  coupling  rods  (an  elongation  provided  for  by  a 
trifling  slackness  in  the  brasses)  would  enable  three  pairs  of  wheels  to 
stand  without  binding  in  a  curve  of  only  one  hundred  feet  radius." 

The  first  engine  of  the  new  plan  was  finished  early  in 
December,  1842,  being  one  of  fourteen  engines  constructed  in 
that  year,  and  was  sent  to  the  Georgia  Railroad,  on  the  order  of 
Mr.  J.  Edgar  Thomson,  then  Chief  Engineer  and  Superintendent 
of  that  line.  It  weighed  twelve  tons,  and  drew,  besides  its  own 
weight,  two  hundred  and  fifty  tons  up  a  grade  of  thirty-six  feet 
to  the  mile. 

Other  orders  soon  followed.  The  new  machine  was  received 
generally  with  great  favor.  The  loads  hauled  by  it  exceeded 
anything  so  far  known  in  American  railroad  practice,  and  saga- 
cious managers  hailed  it  as  a  means  of  largely  reducing  operating 
expenses.  On  the  Central  Railroad,  of  Georgia,  one  of  these 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


twelve-ton  engines  drew  nineteen  eight-wheeled  cars,  with  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  bales  of  cotton,  each  bale  weighing  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pounds,  over  maximum  grades  of  thirty  feet  per 
mile,  and  the  manager  of  the  road  declared  that  it  could  readily 
take  one  thousand  bales.  On  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Rail- 
road a  similar  engine  of  eighteen  tons  weight  drew  one  hundred 
and  fifty  loaded  cars  (total  weight  of  cars  and  lading,  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty  tons)  from  Schuylkill  Haven 
to  Philadelphia,  at  a  speed  of  seven  miles  per  hour.  The  regular 
load  was  one  hundred  loaded  cars,  which  were  hauled  at  a  speed 
of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  miles  per  hour  on  a  level. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter,  dated  August  10,  1844, 
of  Mr.  G.  A.  Nicolls,  then  superintendent  of  that  line,  gives  the 
particulars  of  the  performance  of  these  machines,  and  shows  the 
estimation  in  which  they  were  held : 

' '  We  have  had  two  of  these  engines  in  operation  for  about  four  weeks. 
Each  engine  weighs  about  fort}1  thousand  pounds  with  water  and  fuel, 
equally  distributed  on  six  wheels,  all  of  which  are  coupled,  thus  gaining  the 
whole  adhesion  of  the  engine's  weight.  Their  cylinders  are  fifteen  by 
eighteen  inches. 

"The  daily  allotted  load  of  each  of  these  engines  is  one  hundred  coal 
cars,  each  loaded  with  three  and  six-tenths  tons  of  coal,  and  weighing  two 
and  fifteen  one-hundredths  tons  each,  empty ;  making  a  net  weight  of  three 
hundred  and  sixty  tons  of  coal  carried,  and  a  gross  weight  of  train  of  five 
hundred  and  seventy-five  tons,  all  of  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty 
pounds. 

"This  train  is  hauled  over  the  ninety-four  miles  of  the  road,  half  of 
which  is  level,  at  the  rate  of  twelve  miles  per  hour;  and  with  it  the 
engine  is  able  to  make  fourteen  to  fifteen  miles  per  hour  on  a  level. 

"Were  all  the  cars  on  the  road  of  sufficient  strength,  and  making  the 
trip  by  daylight,  nearly  one-half  being  now  performed  at  night,  I  have  no 
doubt  of  these  engines  being  quite  equal  to  a  load  of  eight  hundred  tons 
gross,  as  their  average  daily  performance  on  any  of  the  levels  of  our  road, 
some  of  which  are  eight  miles  long. 

"In  strength  of  make,  quality  of  workmanship,  finish,  and  proportion 
of  parts,  I  consider  them  equal  to  any,  and  superior  to  most,  freight  engines 
I  have  seen.  They  are  remarkably  easy  on  the  rail,  either  in  their  vertical 
or  horizontal  action,  from  the  equalization  of  their  weight,  and  the 
improved  truck  under  the  forward  part  of  the  engine.  This  latter  adapts 
itself  to  all  the  curves  of  the  road,  including  some  of  seven  hundred  and 
sixteen  feet  radius  in  the  main  track,  and  moves  with  great  ease  around 
our  turning  Y  curves  at  Richmond,  of  about  three  hundred  feet  radius. 


34  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

"I  consider  these  engines  as  near  perfection,  in  the  arrangement  of 
their  parts,  and  their  general  efficiency,  as  the  present  improvements  in 
machinery  and  the  locomotive  engine  will  admit  of.  They  are  saving  us 
thirty  per  cent,  in  every  trip  on  the  former  cost  of  motive  or  engine  power." 

But  the  flexible-beam  truck  also  enabled  Mr.  Baldwin  to 
meet  the  demand  for  an  engine  with  four  drivers  connected. 
Other  builders  were  making  engines  with  four  drivers  and  a  four- 
wheeled  truck,  of  the  present  American  standard  type.  To 
compete  with  this  design,  Mr.  Baldwin  modified  his  six-wheels- 
connected  engine  by  connecting  only  two  out  of  the  three  pairs 
of  wheels  as  drivers,  making  the  forward  wheels  of  smaller 
diameter  as  leading  wheels,  but  combining  them  with  the  front 
drivers  in  a  flexible-beam  truck.  The  first  engine  on  this  plan 
was  sent  to  the  Erie  and  Kalamazoo  Railroad,  in  October,  1843, 
and  gave  great  satisfaction.  The  superintendent  of  the  road  was 
enthusiastic  in  its  praise,  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Baldwin  that  he 
doubted  "if  anything  could  be  got  up  which  would  answer 
the  business  of  the  road  so  well."  One  was  also  sent  to  the 
Utica  and  Schenectady  Railroad  a  few  weeks  later,  of  which  the 
superintendent  remarked  that  "it  worked  beautifully,  and  there 
were  not  wagons  enough  to  give  it  a  full  load."  In  this  plan  the 
leading  wheels  were  usually  made  thirty-six  and  the  drivers  fifty- 
four  inches  in  diameter. 

This  machine,  of  course,  came  in  competition  with  the 
eight-wheeled  engine  having  four  drivers,  and  Mr.  Baldwin 
claimed  for  his  plan  a  decided  superiority.  In  each  case  about 
two-thirds  of  the  total  weight  was  carried  on  the  four  drivers, 
and  Mr.  Baldwin  maintained  that  his  engine,  having  only  six 
instead  of  eight  wheels,  was  simpler  and  more  effective. 

At  about  this  period  Mr.  Baldwin's  attention  was  called  by 
Mr.  L,evi  Bissell  to  an  "Air-Spring"  which  the  latter  had  devised, 
and  which  it  was  imagined  was  destined  to  be  a  cheap,  effective, 
and  perpetual  spring.  The  device  consisted  of  a  small  cylinder 
placed  above  the  frame  over  the  axle  box,  and  having  a  piston 
fitted  air-tight  into  it.  The  piston  rod  was  to  bear  on  the  axle 
box  and  the  proper  quantity  of  air  was  to  be  pumped  into  the 
cylinder  above  the  piston,  and  the  cylinder  then  hermetically 
closed.  The  piston  had  a  leather  packing  which  was  to  be 


HISTORY   OF  "THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  35 


kept  moist  by  some  fluid  (molasses  was  proposed)  previously 
introduced  into  the  cylinder.  Mr.  Baldwin  at  first  proposed  to 
equalize  the  weight  between  the  two  pairs  of  drivers  by  connect- 
ing two  air  springs  on  each  side  by  a  pipe,  the  use  of  an 
equalizing  beam  being  covered  by  Messrs.  Eastwick  &  Harrison's 
patent.  The  air  springs  were  found,  however,  not  to  work 
practically,  and  were  never  applied.  It  may  be  added  that  a 
model  of  an  equalizing  air  spring  was  exhibited  by  Mr.  Joseph 
Harrison,  Jr.,  at  the  Franklin  Institute,  in  1838  or  1839. 

With  the  introduction  of  the  new  machine  business  began 
at  once  to  revive,  and  the  tide  of  prosperity  turned  once  more  in 
Mr.  Baldwin's  favor.  Twelve  engines  were  constructed  in  1843, 
all  but  four  of  them  of  the  new  pattern ;  twenty-two  engines  in 
1844,  all  of  the  new  pattern;  and  twenty -seven  in  1845.  Three 
of  this  number  were  of  the  old  type,  with  one  pair  of  drivers, 
but  from  that  time  forward  the  old  pattern  with  the  single  pair  of 
drivers  disappeared  from  the  practice  of  the  establishment,  save 
occasionally  for  exceptional  purposes. 

In  1842,  the  partnership  with  Mr.  Vail  was  dissolved,  and 
Mr.  Asa  Whitney,  who  had  been  superintendent  of  the  Mohawk 
and  Hudson  Railroad,  became  a  partner  with  Mr.  Baldwin,  and 
the  firm  continued  as  Baldwin  &  Whitney  until  1846,  when  the 
latter  withdrew  to  engage  in  the  manufacture  of  car  wheels, 
establishing  the  firm  of  A.  Whitney  &  Sons,  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Whitney  brought  to  the  firm  a  railroad  experience  and 
thorough  business  talent.  He  introduced  a  system  in  many 
details  of  the  management  of  the  business,  which  Mr.  Baldwin, 
whose  mind  was  devoted  more  exclusively  to  mechanical  sub- 
jects, had  failed  to  establish  or  wholly  ignored.  The  method  at 
present  in  use  in  the  establishment,  of  giving  to  each  class  of 
locomotives  a  distinctive  designation,  composed  of  a  number  and 
a  letter,  originated  very  shortly  after  Mr.  Whitney's  connection 
with  the  business.  For  the  purpose  of  representing  the  different 
designs,  sheets  with  engravings  of  locomotives  were  employed. 
The  sheet  showing  the  engine  with  one  pair  of  drivers  was 
marked  B;  that  with  two  pairs,  C;  that  with  three,  D;  and  that 
with  four,  E.  Taking  its  rise  from  this  circumstance,  it  became 
customary  to  designate  as  B  engines  those  with  one  pair  of 


36  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 

drivers;  as  C  engines,  those  with  two  pairs;  as  D  engines,  those 
with  three  pairs;  and  as  E  engines,  those  with  four  pairs. 
Shortly  afterwards,  a  number,  indicating  the  weight  in  gross 
tons,  was  added.  Thus  the  12  D  engine  was  one  with  three 
pairs  of  drivers,  and  weighing  twelve  tons;  the  12  C,  an  engine 
of  same  weight,  but  with  only  four  wheels  connected.  A  modi- 
fication of  this  method  of  designating  the  several  plans  and  sizes 
is  still  in  use,  and  is  explained  elsewhere. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  classification  as  thus  established 
began  with  the  B  engines.  The  letter  A  was  reserved  for  an 
engine  intended  to  run  at  very  high  speeds,  and  so  designed  that 
the  driving  wheels  should  make  two  revolutions  for  each  recipro- 
cation of  the  pistons.  This  was  to  be  accomplished  by  means  of 
gearing.  The  general  plan  of  the  engine  was  determined  in  Mr. 
Baldwin's  mind,  but  was  never  carried  into  execution. 

The  adoption  of  the  plan  of  six -wheels-connected  engines 
opened  the  way  at  once  to  increasing  their  size.  The  weight 
being  almost  evenly  distributed  on  six  points,  heavier  machines 
were  admissible,  the  weight  on  any  one  pair  of  drivers  being 
little,  if  any,  greater  than  had  been  the  practice  with  the  old 
plan  of  engine  having  a  single  pair  of  drivers.  Hence  engines 
of  eighteen  and  twenty  tons  weight  were  shortly  introduced,  and 
in  1844  three  of  twenty  tons  weight,  with  cylinders  sixteen  and 
one-half  inches  diameter  by  eighteen  inches  stroke,  were  con- 
structed for  the  Western  Railroad  of  Massachusetts,  and  six  of 
eighteen  tons  weight,  with  cylinders  fifteen  by  eighteen,  and 
drivers  forty-six  inches  in  diameter,  were  built  for  the  Philadel- 
phia and  Reading  Railroad.  It  should  be  noted  that  three  of 
these  latter  engines  had  iron  flues.  This  was  the  first  instance 
in  which  Mr.  Baldwin  had  employed  tubes  of  this  material, 
although  they  had  been  previously  used  by  others.  Lap- welded 
iron  flues  were  made  by  Morris,  Tasker  &  Co.,  of  Philadelphia, 
about  1838,  and  butt-welded  iron  tubes  had  previously  been  made 
by  the  same  firm.  Ross  Winans,  of  Baltimore,  had  also  made 
iron  tubes  by  hand  for  locomotives  of  his  manufacture,  before 
1838.  The  advantage  found  to  result  from  the  use  of  iron  tubes, 
apart  from  their  less  cost,  was  that  the  tubes  and  boiler  shell, 
being  of  the  same  material,  expanded  and  contracted  alike,  while 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


37 


in  the  case  of  copper  tubes,  the  expansion  of  the  metal  by  heat 
varied  from  that  of  the  boiler  shell,  and  as  a  consequence  there 
was  greater  liability  to  leakage  at  the  joints  with  the  tube  sheets. 
The  opinion  prevailed  largely  at  that  time  that  some  advantage 
resulted  in  the  evaporation  of  water,  owing  to  the  superiority  of 
copper  as  a  conductor  of  heat.  To  determine  this  question,  an 
experiment  was  tried  with  two  of  the  six  engines  referred  to 
above,  one  of  which,  the  "Ontario,"  had  copper  flues,  and 
another,  the  "  New  England,"  iron  flues.  In  other  respects  they 
were  precisely  alike.  The  two  engines  were  run  from  Richmond 
to  Mount  Carbon,  August  27,  1844,  each  drawing  a  train  of  one 
hundred  and  one  empty  cars,  and  returning,  from  Mount  Carbon 
to  Richmond,  on  the  following  day  each  with  one  hundred 
loaded  cars.  The  quantity  of  water  evaporated  and  wood  con- 
sumed was  noted,  with  the  result  shown  in  the  following  table  : 


UP  TRIP,  AUG.  27,  1844 

DOWN  TRIP,  AUG.  28,  1844 

"Ontario." 
(Copper 
Flues) 

"New 
England." 
(Iron  Flues) 

"  Ontario." 
(Copper 
Flues) 

"  New 

England." 
(Iron  Flues) 

Time,  running   
'  '       standing  at  stations  .   . 
Cords  of  wood  burned  .... 
Cubic  feet  of  water  evaporated 
Ratio,  cubic  feet  of  water  to 
a  cord  of  wood   

9h.     7m. 
4h.     2m. 
6.68 
925-75 

138.57 

7h.  4im. 
3h.     ym. 
5-50 

757.26 

137.68 

ioh.  44m. 
2h.  i2m. 

837.46 
120.67 

8h.    1  9m. 

3h.     8m. 
6. 
656.39 

109.39 

The  conditions  of  the  experiments  not  being  absolutely  the 
same  in  each  case,  the  results  could  not  of  course  be  accepted 
as  entirely  accurate.  They  seemed  to  show,  however,  no  con- 
siderable difference  in  the  evaporative  efficacy  of  copper  and  iron 
tubes. 

The  period  under  consideration  was  marked  also  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  French  &  Baird  stack,  which  proved  at  once  to 
be  one  of  the  most  successful  spark-arresters  thus  far  employed, 
and  which  was  for  years  used  almost  exclusively  wherever,  as 
on  the  cotton-carrying  railroads  of  the  South,  a  thoroughly 
effective  spark-arrester  was  required.  This  stack  was  introduced 
by  Mr.  Baird,  then  a  foreman  in  the  Works,  who  purchased 


38  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

the  patent  right  of  what  had  been  known  as  the  Grimes  stack, 
and  combined  with  it  some  of  the  features  of  the  stack  made 
by  Mr.  Richard  French,  then  Master  Mechanic  of  the  German- 
town  Railroad,  together  with  certain  improvements  of  his  own. 
The  cone  over  the  straight  inside  pipe  Avas  made  with  volute 
flanges  on  its  under  side,  which  gave  a  rotary  motion  to  the 
sparks.  Around  the  cone  was  a  casing  about  six  inches  smaller 
in  diameter  than  the  outside  stack.  Apertures  were  cut  in  the 
sides  of  this  casing,  through  which  the  sparks  in  their  rotary 
motion  were  discharged,  and  thus  fell  to  the  bottom  of  the  space 
between  the  straight  inside  pipe  and  the  outside  stack.  The 
opening  in  the  top  of  the  stack  was  fitted  with  a  series  of 
V-shaped  iron  circles  perforated  with  numerous  holes,  thus  pre- 
senting an  enlarged  area,  through  which  the  smoke  escaped. 
The  patent  right  for  this  stack  was  subsequently  sold  to  Messrs. 
Radley  &  Hunter,  and  its  essential  principle  is  still  used  in  the 
Radley  &  Hunter  stack  as  at  present  made. 

In  1845,  Mr.  Baldwin  built  three  locomotives  for  the  Royal 
Railroad  Company  of  Wiirtemberg.  They  were  of  fifteen  tons 
weight,  on  six  wheels,  four  of  them  being  sixty  inches  in 
diameter  and  coupled.  The  front  drivers  were  combined  by  the 
flexible  beams  into  a  truck  with  the  smaller  leading  wrheels.  The 
cylinders  were  inclined  and  outside,  and  the  connecting  rods  took 
hold  of  a  half-crank  axle  back  of  the  firebox.  It  was  specified 
that  these  engines  should  have  the  link  motion  which  had  shortly 
before  been  introduced  in  England  by  the  Stephensous.  Mr. 
Baldwin  accordingly  applied  a  link  of  a  peculiar  character  to 
suit  his  own  ideas  of  the  device.  The  link  was  made  solid,  and 
of  a  truncated  V-section,  and  the  block  was  grooved  so  as  to  fit 
and  slide  on  the  outside  of  the  link. 

During  the  year  1845  another  important  feature  in  locomo- 
tive construction — the  cut-off  valve — was  added  to  Mr.  Baldwin's 
practice.  Up  to  that  time  the  valve  motion  had  been  the  two 
eccentrics,  with  the  single  flat  hook  for  each  cylinder.  Since 
1841,  Mr.  Baldwin  had  contemplated  the  addition  of  some  device 
allowing  the  steam  to  be  used  expansively,  and  he  now  added 
the  ' '  half-stroke  cut-off. ' '  In  this  device  the  steam  chest  was 
separated  by  a  horizontal  plate  into  an  upper  and  a  lower  com- 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  39 

partment.  In  the  upper  compartment,  a  valve,  worked  by  a 
separate  eccentric ,  and  having  a  single  opening,  admitted  steam 
through  a  port  in  this  plate  to  the  lower  steam  chamber.  The 
valve  rod  of  the  upper  valve  terminated  in  a  notch  or  hook, 
which  engaged  with  the  upper  arm  of  its  rock  shaft.  When 
thus  working,  it  acted  as  a  cut-off  at  a  fixed  part  of  the  stroke, 
determined  by  the  setting  of  the  eccentric.  This  was  usually  at 
half  the  stroke.  When  it  was  desired  to  dispense  with  the  cut- 
off and  work  steam  for  the  full  stroke,  the  hook  of  the  valve  rod 
was  lifted  from  the  pin  on  the  upper  arm  of  the  rock  shaft  by  a 
lever  worked  from  the  footboard,  and  the  valve  rod  was  held  in 
a  notched  rest  fastened  to  the  side  of  the  boiler.  This  left  the 
opening  through  the  upper  valve  and  the  port  in  the  partition 
plate  open  for  the  free  passage  of  steam  throughout  the  whole 
stroke.  The  first  application  of  the  half-stroke  cut-off  was  made 
on  the  engine  "Champlain"  (20  D),  built  for  the  Philadelphia 
and  Reading  Railroad  Company,  in  1845.  It  at  once  became  the 
practice  to  apply  the  cut-off  on  all  passenger  engines,  while  the 
six-  and  eight- wheels-connected  freight  engines  were,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  built  for  a  time  longer  with  the  single  valve  admit- 
ting steam  for  the  full  stroke. 

After  building,  during  the  years  1843,  1844,  and  1845,  ten 
four-wheels-connected  engines  on  the  plan  above  described,  viz., 
six  wheels  in  all,  the  leading  wheels  and  the  front  drivers  being 
combined  into  a  truck  by  the  flexible  beams,  Mr.  Baldwin  finally 
adopted  the  present  design  of  four  drivers  and  a  four-wheeled 
truck.  Some  of  his  customers  who  were  favorable  to  the  latter 
plan  had  ordered  such  machines  of  other  builders,  and  Colonel 
Gadsden,  President  of  the  South  Carolina  Railroad  Company, 
called  on  him  in  1845  to  build  for  that  line  some  passenger  en- 
gines of  this  pattern.  He  accordingly  bought  the  patent  right 
for  this  plan  of  engine  of  Mr.  H.  R.  Campbell,  and  for  the 
equalizing  beams  used  between  the  drivers,  of  Messrs.  Eastwick 
&  Harrison,  and  delivered  to  the  South  Carolina  Railroad  Com- 
pany, in  December,  1845,  his  first  eight-wheeled  engine  with 
four  drivers  and  a  four-wheeled  truck.  This  machine  had  cylin- 
ders thirteen  and  three-quarters  by  eighteen,  and  drivers  sixty 
inches  in  diameter,  with  the  springs  between  them  arranged  as 


40  HISTORY   OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


equalizers.  Its  weight  was  fifteen  tons.  It  had  the  half-crank 
axle,  the  cylinders  being  inside  the  frame  but  outside  the  smoke- 
box.  The  inside-connected  engine,  counterweighting  being  as 
yet  unknown,  was  admitted  to  be  steadier  in  running,  and  hence 
more  suitable  for  passenger  service.  With  the  completion  of 
the  first  eight- wheeled  "C"  engine,  Mr.  Baldwin's  feelings 
underwent  a  revulsion  in  favor  of  this  plan,  and  his  partiality  for 
it  became  as  great  as  had  been  his  antipathy  before.  Comment- 
ing on  the  machine,  he  recorded  himself  as  "more  pleased  with  its 
appearance  and  action  than  any  engine  he  had  turned  out."  In 
addition  to  the  three  engines  of  this  description  for  the  South 
Carolina  Railroad  Company,  a  duplicate  was  sent  to  the  Camden 
and  Amboy  Railroad  Company,  and  a  similar  but  lighter  one 
to  the  Wilmington  and  Baltimore  Railroad  Company,  shortly 
afterwards.  The  engine  for  the  Camden  and  Amboy  Railroad 
Company,  and  perhaps  the  others,  had  the  half-stroke  cut-off. 

From  that  time  forward  all  of  his  four-wheels-connected 
machines  were  built  on  this  plan,  and  the  six-wheeled  "C"  en- 
gine was  abandoned,  except  in  the  case  of  one  built  for  the 
Philadelphia,  German  town  and  Norristown  Railroad  Company, 
in  1846,  and  this  was  afterwards  rebuilt  into  a  six-wheels-con- 
nected machine.  Three  methods  of  carrying  out  the  general 
design  were,  however,  subsequently  followed.  At  first  the  half- 
crank  was  used ;  then  horizontal  cylinders  inclosed  in  the 
chimney  seat  and  working  a  full-crank  axle,  which  form  of  con- 
struction had  been  practiced  at  the  Lowell  Works :  and  eventually 
outside  cylinders  with  outside  connections. 

Meanwhile,  the  flexible  truck  machine  maintained  its  popu- 
larity for  heavy  freight  service.  All  the  engines  thus  far  built  on 
this  plan  had  been  six- wheeled,  some  with  the  rear  driving  axle 
back  of  the  firebox,  and  others  with  it  in  front.  The  next  step, 
following  logically  after  the  adoption  of  the  eight-wheeled  "  C  " 
engine,  was  to  increase  the  size  of  the  freight  machine,  and  dis- 
tribute the  weight  on  eight  wheels  all  connected,  the  two  rear 
pairs  being  rigid  in  the  frame,  and  the  two  front  pairs  combined 
into  the  flexible-beam  truck.  This  was  first  done  in  1846,  when 
seventeen  engines  on  this  plan  were  constructed  on  one  order  for 
the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railroad  Company.  Fifteen  of 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


these  were  of  twenty  tons  weight,  with  cylinders  fifteen  and  a 
half  by  twenty,  and  wheels  forty -six  inches  in  diameter:  and  two 
of  twenty-five  tons  weight,  with  cylinders  seventeen  and  a  quarter 
by  eighteen,  and  drivers  forty-two  inches  in  diameter.  These 
engines  were  the  first  on  which  Mr.  Baldwin  placed  sand 
boxes,  and  they  were  also  the  first  built  by  him  with  roofs.  On 
all  previous  engines  the  footboard  had  only  been  inclosed  by  a 


railing.  On  these  engines  for  the  Reading  Railroad  four  iron 
posts  were  carried  up,  and  a  wooden  roof  supported  by  them. 
The  engine  men  added  curtains  at  the  sides  and  front,  and  Mr. 
Baldwin  on  subsequent  engines  added  sides,  with  sash  and  glass. 
The  cab  proper,  however,  was  of  New  England  origin,  where 
the  severity  of  the  climate  demanded  it,  and  where  it  had  been 
used  previous  to  this  period. 

Forty-two  engines  were  completed  in  1846,  and  thirty-nine 
in  1847.  The  only  novelty  to  be  noted  among  them  was  the 
engine  "  M.  G.  Bright,"  built  for  operating  the  inclined  plane  on 
the  Madison  and  Indianapolis  Railroad.  The  rise  of  this  incline 
was  one  in  seventeen,  from  the  bank  of  the  Ohio  River  at 
Madison.  The  engine  had  eight  wheels,  forty -two  inches  in 
diameter,  connected,  and  worked  in  the  usual  manner  by  outside 
inclined  cylinders,  fifteen  and  one-half  inches  diameter  by  twenty 
inches  stroke.  A  second  pair  of  cylinders,  seventeen  inches  in 
diameter  with  eighteen  inches  stroke  of  piston  was  placed  verti- 
cally over  the  boiler,  midway  between  the  furnace  and  smoke 
arch.  The  connecting  rods,  worked  by  these  cylinders,  connected 


42  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

with  cranks  on  a  shaft  under  the  boiler.  This  shaft  carried  a 
single  cog-wheel  at  its  center,  and  this  cog-wheel  engaged  with 
another  of  about  twice  its  diameter  on  a  second  shaft  adjacent 
to  it  and  in  the  same  plane.  The  cog-wheel  on  this  latter  shaft 
worked  in  a  rack-rail  placed  in  the  center  of  the  track.  The 
shaft  itself  had  its  bearings  in  the  lower  ends  of  two  vertical 
rods,  one  on  each  side  of  the  boiler,  and  these  rods  were  united 
over  the  boiler  by  a  horizontal  bar,  which  was  connected  by 

means  of  a  bent  lever 
and  connecting  rod  to 
the  piston  worked  by 
a  small  horizontal 
cylinder  placed  on  top 
of  the  boiler.  By 
means  of  this  cylinder, 
the  yoke  carrying  the 
shaft  and  cog-wheel 

BALDWIN  ENGINE  FOR  RACK  RAH.,  1847  COUld       be      depressed 

and  held  down  so  as 

to  engage  the  cogs  with  the  rack-rail,  or  raised  out  of  the  way 
when  only  the  ordinary  drivers  were  required.  This  device  was 
designed  by  Mr.  Andrew  Cathcart,  Master  Mechanic  of  the 
Madison  and  Indianapolis  Railroad.  A  similar  machine,  the 
"John  Brough,"  for  the  same  plane,  was  built  by  Mr.  Baldwin 
in  1850.  The  incline  was  worked  with  a  rack-rail  and  these 
engines  until  it  was  finally  abandoned  and  a  line  with  easier 
gradients  substituted. 

The  use  of  iron  tubes  in  freight  engines  grew  in  favor,  and 
in  October,  1847,  Mr.  Baldwin  noted  that  he  was  fitting  his  flues 
with  copper  ends,  "for  riveting  to  the  boiler." 

The  subject  of  burning  coal  continued  to  engage  much  atten- 
tion, but  the  use  of  anthracite  had  not  as  yet  been  generally 
successful.  In  October,  1847,  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
Company  advertised  for  proposals  for  four  engines  to  burn 
Cumberland  coal,  and  the  order  was  taken  and  filled  by  Mr. 
Baldwin  with  four  of  his  eight- wheels-connected  machines. 
These  engines  had  a  heater  on  top  of  the  boiler  for  heating  the 
feed  water,  and  a  grate  with  a  rocking  bar  in  the  center,  having 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  43 

fingers  on  each  side  which  interlocked  with  projections  on  fixed 
bars,  one  in  front  and  one  behind.  The  rocking  bar  was  oper- 
ated from  the  footboard.  This  appears  to  have  been  the  first 
instance  of  the  use  of  a  rocking  grate  in  the  practice  of  these 
Works. 

The  year  1848  showed  a  falling  off  in  business,  and  only 
twenty  engines  were  turned  out.  In  the  following  year,  however, 
there  was  a  rapid  recover)',  and  the  production  of  the  Works 
increased  to  thirty,  followed  by  thirty -seven  in  1850,  and  fifty  in 
1851.  These  engines,  with  a  few  exceptions,  were  confined  to 
three  patterns:  the  eight- wheeled  four-coupled  engine,  from 
twelve  to  nineteen  tons  in  weight,  for  passengers  and  freight,  and 
the  six  and  eight-wheels-connected  engine,  for  freight  exclu- 
sively, the  six-wheeled  machine  weighing  from  twelve  to  seven- 
teen tons,  and  the  eight- wheeled  from  eighteen  to  twenty-seven 
tons.  The  drivers  of  these  six-  and  eight- wheels-connected  ma- 
chines were  made  generally  forty-two,  with  occasional  variations 
up  to  forty-eight  inches  in  diameter. 

The  exceptions  referred  to  in  the  practice  of  these  years  were 
the  fast  passenger  engines  built  by  Mr.  Baldwin  during  this 
period.  Early  in  1848,  the  Vermont  Central  Railroad  was 
approaching  completion,  and  Governor  Paine,  the  President  of 
the  Company,  conceived  the  idea  that  the  passenger  service  on 
the  road  required  locomotives  capable  of  running  at  very  high 
velocities.  Henry  R.  Campbell,  Esq.,  was  a  contractor  in 
building  the  line,  and  was  authorized  by  Governor  Paine  to  come 
to  Philadelphia  and  offer  Mr.  Baldwin  ten  thousand  dollars  for  a 
locomotive,  which  could  run  with  a  passenger  train  at  a  speed 
of  sixty  miles  per  hour.  Mr.  Baldwin  at  once  undertook  to 
meet  these  conditions.  The  work  was  begun  early  in  1848,  and 
in  March  of  that  year  Mr.  Baldwin  filed  a  caveat  for  his  design. 
The  engine  wras  completed  in  1849,  and  was  named  the  "Gov- 
ernor Paine."  It  had  one  pair  of  driving  wheels,  six  and  a  half 
feet  in  diameter,  placed  back  of  the  firebox.  Another  pair  of 
wheels  but  smaller  and  unconnected,  was  placed  directly  in  front 
of  the  firebox,  and  a  four-wheeled  truck  carried  the  front  of  the 
engine.  The  cylinder*  were  seventeen  and  a  quarter  inches  di- 
ameter and  twenty  inches  stroke,  and  were  placed  horizontally 


44 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


between  the  frames  and  the  boiler,  at  about  the  middle  of  the 
waist.  The  connecting  rods  took  hold  of  "half-cranks"  inside 
of  the  driving  wheels.  The  object  of  placing  the  cylinders  at  the 
middle  of  the  boiler  was  to  lessen  or  obviate  the  lateral  motion 
of  the  engine,  produced  when  the  cylinders  were  attached  to  the 
smoke  arch.  The  bearings  on  the  two  rear  axles  were  so  con- 
trived that,  by  means  of  a  lever,  a  part  of  the  weight  of  the 
engine  usually  carried  on  the  wheels  in  front  of  the  firebox 
could  be  transferred  to  the  driving  axle.  The  ' '  Governor  Paine  ' ' 
was  used  for  several  years  on  the  Vermont  Central  Railroad,  and 
then  rebuilt  into  a  four-coupled  machine.  During  its  career,  it 
was  stated  by  the  officers  of  the  road  that  it  could  be  started 
from  a  state  of  rest  and  run  a  mile  in  forty-three  seconds.  Three 


engines  on  the  same  plan,  but  with  cylinders  fourteen  by  twenty, 
and  six-feet  driving  wheels,  the  "Mifflin,"  "Blair,"  and  "In- 
diana," were  also  built  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company 
in  1849.  They  weighed  each  about  forty-seven  thousand  pounds, 
distributed  as  follows:  Eighteen  thousand  on  the  drivers,  four- 
teen thousand  on  the  pair  of  wheels  in  front  of  the  firebox,  and 
fifteen  thousand  on  the  truck.  By  applying  the  lever,  the  weight 
on  the  drivers  could  be  increased  to  about  twenty-four  thousand 
pounds,  the  weight  on  the  wheels  in  front  of  the  firebox  being 
correspondingly  reduced.  A  speed  of  four  miles  in  three  minutes 
is  recorded  for  them,  and  upon  one  occasion  President  Taylor 
was  taken  in  a  special  train  over  the  road  by  one  of  these  ma- 
chines at  a  speed  of  sixty  miles  an  hour.  One  other  engine  of 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  45 


this  pattern ,  the  ' '  Susquehanna ' '  was  built  for  the  Hudson  River 
Railroad  Company  in  1850.  Its  cylinders  were  fifteen  inches 
diameter  by  twenty  inches  stroke,  and  drivers  six  feet  in  di- 
ameter. All  these  engines,  however,  were  short-lived,  and  died 
young,  of  insufficient  adhesion. 

Eight  engines,  with  four  drivers  connected  and  half-crank 
axles,  were  built  for  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company 
in  1849,  with  seventeen  by  twenty-inch  cylinders;  one-half  of  the 
number  with  six-feet  and  the  rest  with  five-feet  drivers.  These 
machines  were  among  the  last  on  which  the  half-crank  axle  was 
used.  Thereafter,  outside-connected  engines  were  constructed 
almost  exclusively. 

In  May,  1848,  Mr.  Baldwin  filed  a  caveat  for  a  four-cylinder 
locomotive,  but  never  carried  the  design  into  execution.  The 
first  instance  of  the  use  of  steel  axles  in  the  practice  of  the 
establishment  occurred  during  the  same  year, — a  set  being  placed 
as  an  experiment  under  an  engine  constructed  for  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  Company.  In  1850,  the  old  form  of  dome  boiler, 
which  had  characterized  the  Baldwin  engine  since  1834,  was 
abandoned,  and  the  wagon-top  form  substituted. 

The  business  in  1851  had  reached  the  full  capacity  of  the 
shop,  and  the  next  year  marked  the  completion  of  about  an  equal 
number  of  engines  (forty-nine).  Contracts  for  work  extended 
a  year  ahead,  and  to  meet  the  demand,  the  facilities  in  the 
various  departments  were  increased,  and  resulted  in  the  con- 
struction of  sixty  engines  in  1853,  and  sixty-two  in  1854. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  latter  year,  Mr.  Matthew  Baird,  who 
had  been  connected  with  the  Works  since  1836,  as  one  of  its  fore- 
men, entered  into  partnership  with  Mr.  Baldwin,  and  the  style  of 
the  firm  was  made  M.  W.  Baldwin  &  Co. 

The  only  novelty  in  the  general  plan  of  engines  during  this 
period  was  the  addition  of  a  ten-wheeled  engine  to  the  patterns 
of  the  establishment.  The  success  of  Mr.  Baldwin's  engines  with 
all  six  or  eight  wheels  connected,  and  the  two  front  pairs  com- 
bined by  the  parallel  beams  into  a  flexible  truck,  had  been  so 
marked  that  it  was  natural  that  he  should  oppose  any  other 
plan  for  freight  service.  The  ten -wheeled  engine,  with  six 
drivers  connected,  had  however,  now  become  a  competitor. 


46  HISTORY   OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 


This  plan  of  engine  was  first  patented  by  Septimus  Norris,  of 
Philadelphia,  in  1846,  and  the  original  design  was  apparently  to 
produce  an  engine  which  should  have  equal  tractive  power  with 
the  Baldwin  six- wheels-connected  machine.  This  the  Norris 
patent  sought  to  accomplish  by  proposing  an  engine  with  six 
drivers  connected,  and  so  disposed  as  to  carry  substantially  the 
whole  weight,  the  forward  drivers  being  in  advance  of  the  center 
of  gravity  of  the  engine,  and  the  truck  only  serving  as  a  guide, 
the  front  of  the  engine  being  connected  with  it  by  a  pivot  pin, 
but  without  a  bearing  on  the  center  plate.  Mr.  Norris's  first 
engine  on  this  plan  was  tried  in  April,  1847,  and  was  found  not 
to  pass  curves  as  readily  as  was  expected.  As  the  truck  carried 
little  or  no  weight,  it  would  not  keep  the  track.  The  New 
York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  of  which  John  Brandt  was 
then  Master  Mechanic,  shortly  afterward  adopted  the  ten- 
wheeled  engine,  modified  in  plan  so  as  to  carry  a  part  of  the 
weight  on  the  truck.  Mr.  Baldwin  filled  an  order  for  this 
company,  in  1850,  of  four  eight- wheels-connected  engines,  and 
in  making  the  contract  he  agreed  to  substitute  a  truck  for  the 
front  pair  of  wheels  if  desired  after  trial.  This,  however,  he  was 
not  called  upon  to  do. 

In  February,  1852,  Mr.  J.  Edgar  Thomson,  President  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company,  invited  proposals  for  a  number 
of  freight  locomotives  of  fifty-six  thousand  pounds  weight  each. 
They  were  to  be  adapted  to  burn  bituminous  coal,  and  to  have 
six  wheels  connected  and  a  truck  in  front,  which  might  be  either 
of  two  or  four  wheels.  Mr.  Baldwin  secured  the  contract,  and 
built  twelve  engines  of  the  prescribed  dimensions,  viz. :  cylinders 
eighteen  by  twenty-two  ;  drivers  forty-four  inches  diameter,  with 
chilled  tires.  Several  of  these  engines  were  constructed  with  a 
single  pair  of  truck  wheels  in  front  of  the  drivers,  but  back  of 
the  cylinders.  It  was  found,  however,  after  the  engines  were  put 
in  service,  that  the  two  truck  wheels  carried  eighteen  thousand 
or  nineteen  thousand  pounds,  and  this  was  objected  to  by  the 
company  as  too  great  a  weight  to  be  carried  on  a  single  pair  of 
wheels.  On  the  rest  of  the  engines  of  the  order,  therefore,  a 
four-wheeled  truck  in  front  was  employed. 

The  ten-wheeled  engine  thereafter  assumed  a  place  in  the 


HISTORY   OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  47 

Baldwin  classification,  but  it  was  some  years — not  until  after 
1860,  however — before  this  pattern  of  engine  wholly  superseded 
in  Mr.  Baldwin's  practice  the  old  plan  of  freight  engine  on  six 
or  eight  wheels,  all  connected. 

In  1855-56,  two  locomotives  of  twenty -seven  tons  weight, 
nineteen  by  twenty-two  cylinders,  forty-eight-inch  drivers,  were 
built  for  the  Portage  Railroad,  and  three  for  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad.  In  1855,  '56  and  '57,  fourteen  of  the  same  dimensions 
were  built  for  the  Cleveland  and  Pittsburg  Railroad ;  four  for  the 
Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  Railroad;  and  one  for  the 
Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad.  In  1858  and  '59,  one  was 
constructed  for  the  South  Carolina  Railroad,  of  the  same  size, 
and  six  lighter  ten-wheelers,  with  cylinders  fifteen  and  one-half 
by  twenty-two,  and  four-feet  drivers,  and  two  with  cylinders 
sixteen  by  twenty-two,  and  four-feet  drivers,  were  sent  out  to 
railroads  in  Cuba. 

On  three  locomotives  —  the  "  Clinton , "  "  Athens, ' '  and 
' '  Sparta ' ' — completed  for  the  Central  Railroad  of  Georgia  in  July, 
1852,  the  driving  boxes  were  made  with  a  slot  or  cavity  in  the 
line  of  the  vertical  bearing  on  the  journal.  The  object  was  to 
produce  a  more  uniform  distribution  of  the  wear  over  the  entire 
surface  of  the  bearing.  This  was  the  first  instance  in  which  this 
device,  which  has  since  come  into  general  use,  was  employed  in 
the  Works,  and  the  boxes  were  so  made  by  direction  of  Mr. 
Charles  Whiting,  then  Master  Mechanic  of  the  Central  Railroad 
of  Georgia.  He  subsequently  informed  Mr.  Baldwin  that  this 
method  of  fitting  up  driving  boxes  had  been  in  use  on  the  road 
for  several  years  previous  to  his  connection  with  the  company. 
As  this  device  was  subsequently  made  the  subject  of  a  patent  by 
Mr.  David  Matthew,  these  facts  may  not  be  without  interest. 

In  1853,  Mr.  Charles  Ellet,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Virginia 
Central  Railroad,  laid  a  temporary  track  across  the  Blue  Ridge, 
at  Rock  Fish  Gap,  for  use  during  the  construction  of  a  tunnel 
through  the  mountain.  This  track  was  twelve  thousand  five 
hundred  feet  in  length  on  the  eastern  slope,  ascending  in  that 
distance  six  hundred  and  ten  feet,  or  at  the  average  rate  of  one 
in  twenty  and  a  half  feet.  The  maximum  grade  was  calculated 
for  two  hundred  and  ninety -six  feet  per  mile,  and  prevailed  for 


48  HISTORY   OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


half  a, mile.  It  was  found,  however,  in  fact,  that  the  grade  in 
places  exceeded  three  hundred  feet  per  mile.  The  shortest  radius 
of  curvature  was  two  hundred  and  thirty-eight  feet.  On  the 
western  slope,  which  was  ten  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  in  length,  the  maximum  grade  was  two  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  per  mile,  and  the  ruling  radius  of  curvature  three  hundred 
feet.  This  track  was  worked  by  two  of  the  Baldwin  six-wheels- 
connected  flexible-beam  truck  locomotives  constructed  in  1853- 
54.  From  a  description  of  this  track,  and  the  mode  of  working 
it,  published  by  Mr.  Ellet,  in  1856,  the  following  is  extracted  : 

"The  locomotives  mainly  relied  on  for  this  severe  duty  were  designed 
and  constructed  by  the  firm  of  M.  W.  Baldwin  &  Company,  of  Phila- 
delphia. The  slight  modifications  introduced  at  the  instance  of  the  writer, 
to  adapt  them  better  to  the  particular  service  to  be  performed  in  crossing 
the  Blue  Ridge,  did  not  touch  the  working  proportions  or  principle  of  the 
engines,  the  merits  of  which  are  due  to  the  patentee,  M.  W.  Baldwin,  Esq. 

"These  engines  are  mounted  on  six  wheels,  all  of  which  are  drivers, 
and  coupled,  and  forty-two  inches  diameter.  The  wheels  are  set  very  close, 
so  that  the  distance  between  the  extreme  points  of  contact  of  the  wheels 
and  the  rail,  of  the  front  and  rear  drivers,  is  nine  feet  four  inches.  This 
closeness  of  the  wheels,  of  course,  greatly  reduces  the  difficulty  of  turn- 
ing the  short  curves  of  the  road.  The  diameter  of  the  cylinders  is  sixteen 
and  a  half  inches,  and  the  length  of  the  stroke  twenty  inches.  To  increase 
the  adhesion,  and  at  the  same  time  avoid  the  resistance  of  a  tender,  the 
engine  carries  its  tank  upon  the  boiler,  and  the  footboard  is  lengthened  out 
and  provided  with  suspended  side  boxes,  where  a  supply  of  fuel  may  be 
stored.  By  this  means  the  weight  of  wood  and  water,  instead  of  abstract- 
ing from  the  effective  power  of  the  engine,  contributes  to  its  adhesion 
and  consequent  ability  to  climb  the  mountain.  The  total  weight  of  these 
engines  is  fifty-five  thousand  pounds,  or  twenty-seven  and  a  half  tons, 
when  the  boiler  and  tank  are  supplied  with  water,  and  fuel  enough  for  a 
trip  of  eight  miles  is  on  board.  The  capacity  of  the  tank  is  sufficient  to 
hold  one  hundred  cubic  feet  of  water,  and  it  has  storage  room  on  top  for 
one  hundred  cubic  feet  of  wood,  in  addition  to  what  may  be  carried  in  the 
side  boxes  and  on  the  footboard. 

"To  enable  the  engines  to  better  adapt  themselves  to  the  flexures  of 
the  road,  the  front  and  middle  pairs  of  drivers  are  held  in  position  by 
wrought-iron  beams,  having  cylindrical  boxes  in  each  end  for  the  journal 
bearings,  which  beams  vibrate  on  spherical  pins  fixed  in  the  frame  of  the 
engine  on  each  side,  and  resting  on  the  centers  of  the  beams.  The  object 
of  this  arrangement  is  to  form  a  truck,  somewhat  flexible,  which  enables 
the  drivers  more  readily  to  traverse  the  curves  of  the  road. 

"The  writer  has  never  permitted   the  power  of   the  engines  on  this 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  49 


mountain  road  to  be  fully  tested.  The  object  has  been  to  work  the  line 
regularly,  economically,  and  above  all,  safely ;  and  these  conditions  are 
incompatible  with  experimental  loads  subjecting  the  machinery  to  severe 
strains.  The  regular  daily  sen-ice  of  each  of  the  engines  is  to  make  four 
trips,  of  eight  miles,  over  the  mountain,  drawing  one  eight-wheel  baggage 
car,  together  with  two  eight-wheel  passenger  cars,  in  each  direction. 

"In  conveying  freight,  the  regular  train  on  the  mountain  is  three  of 
the  eight-wheel  house  cars,  fully  loaded,  or  four  of  them  when  emptv  or 
partly  loaded. 

' '  These  three  cars  when  full,  weigh  with  their  loads,  from  forty  to 
forty-three  tons.  Sometimes,  though  rarery,  when  the  business  has  been 
unusually  heavy,  the  loads  have  exceeded  fifty  tons. 

"With  such  trains  the  engines  are  stopped  on  the  track,  ascending  or 
descending,  and  are  started  again,  on  the  steepest  grades,  at  the  discretion 
of  the  engineer. 

"Water  for  the  supply  of  the  engines  has  been  found  difficult  to 
obtain  on  the  mountain ;  and  since  the  road  was  constructed  a  tank  has 
been  established  on  the  eastern  slope,  where  the  ascending  engines  stop 
daily  on  a  grade  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  feet  per  mile,  and  are  there 
held  by  the  brakes  while  the  tank  is  being  filled,  and  started  again  at  the 
signal  and  without  any  difficulty. 

"The  ordinary  speed  of  the  engines,  when  loaded,  is  seven  and  a  half 
miles  an  hour  on  the  ascending  grades,  and  from  five  and  a  half  to  six  miles 
an  hour  on  the  descent. 

"When  the  road  was  first  opened,  it  speedily  appeared  that  the  differ- 
ence of  forty-three  feet  on  the  western  side,  and  fifty-eight  on  the  eastern 
side,  between  the  grades  on  curves  of  three  hundred  feet  radius  and  those 
on  straight  lines,  was  not  sufficient  to  compensate  for  the  increased  friction 
due  to  such  curvature.  The  velocity,  with  a  constant  supply  of  steam,  was 
promptly  retarded  on  passing  from  a  straight  line  to  a  curve,  and  promptly 
accelerated  again  on  passing  from  the  curve  to  the  straight  line.  But,  after 
a  little  experience  in  the  working  of  the  road,  it  was  found  advisable  to 
supply  a  small  amount  of  grease  to  the  flange  of  the  engine  by  means  of  a 
sponge,  saturated  with  oil,  which,  when  needed,  is  kept  in  contact  with  the 
wheel  by  a  spring.  Since  the  use  of  the  oil  was  introduced,  the  difficulty 
of  turning  the  curves  has  been  so  far  diminished  that  it  is  no  longer 
possible  to  determine  whether  grades  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  and 
six-tenths  feet  per  mile  on  curves  of  three  hundred  feet  radius,  or  grades 
of  two  hundred  and  ninety-six  feet  per  mile  on  straight  lines,  are  traversed 
most  rapidly  by  the  engine. 

"  When  the  track  is  in  good  condition,  the  brakes  of  only  two  of  the 
cars  possess  sufficient  power  to  control  and  regulate  the  movement  of  the 
train, — that  is  to  say,  they  will  hold  back  the  two  cars  and  the  engine. 
When  there  are  three  or  more  cars  in  the  train,  the  brakes  on  the  cars,  of 
course,  command  the  train  so  much  the  more  easilv. 


50  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


"  But  the  safety  of  the  train  is  not  dependent  on  the  brakes  of  the  car. 
There  is  also  a  valve  or  air  cock  in  the  steam  chest,  under  the  control  of 
the  engineer.  This  air  cock  forms  an  independent  brake,  exclusively  at 
the  command  of  the  engineer,  and  which  can  always  be  applied  when  the 
engine  itself  is  in  working  order.  The  action  of  this  power  may  be  made 
ever  so  gradual,  either  slightly  relieving  the  duty  of  the  brakes  on  the  cars, 
or  bringing  into  play  the  entire  power  of  the  engine.  The  train  is  thus 
held  in  complete  command." 

The  Mountain  Top  Track,  it  may  be  added,  was  worked 
successfully  for  several  years  by  the  engines  described  in  the 
above  extract,  until  it  was  abandoned  on  the  completion  of  the 
tunnel.  The  exceptionally  steep  grades  and  short  curves  which 
characterized  the  line  afforded  a  complete  and  satisfactory  test  of 
the  adaptation  of  these  machines  to  such  peculiar  service. 

But  the  period  now  under  consideration  was  marked  by 
another  and  a  most  important  step  in  the  progress  of  American 
locomotive  practice.  We  refer  to  the  introduction  of  the  link 
motion.  Although  this  device  was  first  employed  by  William  T. 
James,  of  New  York,  in  1832,  and  eleven  years  later  by  the 
Stephensons,  in  England,  and  was  by  them  applied  thenceforward 
on  their  engines,  it  was  not  until  1849  that  it  was  adopted  in 
this  country.  In  that  year  Mr.  Thomas  Rogers,  of  the  Rogers 
Locomotive  and  Machine  Company,  introduced  it  in  his  practice. 
Other  builders  however,  strenuously  resisted  the  innovation,  and 
none  more  so  than  Mr.  Baldwin.  The  theoretical  objections 
which  confessedly  apply  to  the  device,  but  which  practically  have 
been  proved  to  be  unimportant,  were  urged  from  the  first  by  Mr. 
Baldwin  as  arguments  against  its  use.  The  strong  claim  of  the 
advocates  of  the  link  motion,  that  it  gave  a  means  of  cutting  off 
steam  at  any  point  of  the  stroke,  could  not  be  gainsaid,  and  this 
was  admitted  to  be  a  consideration  of  the  first  importance.  This 
very  circumstance  undoubtedly  turned  Mr.  Baldwin's  attention 
to  the  subject  of  methods  for  cutting  off  steam,  and  one  of  the 
first  results  was  his  "  Variable  Cut-off,"  patented  April  27,  1852. 
This  device  consisted  of  two  valves,  the  upper  sliding  upon  the 
lower,  and  worked  by  an  eccentric  and  rock  shaft  in  the  usual 
manner.  The  lower  valve  fitted  steam-tight  to  the  sides  of  the 
steam  chest  and  the  under  surface  of  the  upper  valve.  When 
the  piston  reached  each  end  of  its  stroke,  the  full  pressure  of 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  51 

steam  from  the  boiler  was  admitted  around  the  upper  valve,  and 
transferred  the  lower  valve  instantaneously  from  one  end  of  the 
steam  chest  to  the  other.  The  openings  through  the  two  valves 
were  so  arranged  that  steam  was  admitted  to  the  cylinder  only 
for  a  part  of  the  stroke.  The  effect  was  therefore,  to  cut  off 
steam  at  a  given  point,  and  to  open  the  induction  and  exhaust 
ports  substantially  at  the  same  instant  and  to  their  full  extent. 
The  exhaust  port,  in  addition,  remained  fully  opened  while  the 
induction  port  was  gradually  closing,  and  after  it  had  entirely 
closed.  Although  this  device  \vas  never  put  in  use,  it  may  be 
noted  in  passing  that  it  contained  substantially  the  principle  of 
the  steam  pump,  as  since  patented  and  constructed. 

Early  in  1853  Mr.  Baldwin  abandoned. the  half-stroke  cut-off 
previously  described,  and  which  he  had  been  using  since  1845, 
and  adopted  the  variable  cut-off,  which  was  already  employed  by 
other  builders.  One  of  his  letters,  written  in  January,  1853, 
states  his  position,  as  follows  : 

' '  I  shall  put  on  an  improvement  in  the  shape  of  a  variable  cut-off, 
which  can  be  operated  by  the  engineer  while  the  machine  is  running,  and 
which  will  cut  off  anywhere  from  six  to  twelve  inches,  according  to  the 
load  and  amount  of  steam  wanted,  and  this  without  the  link  motion,  which 
I  could  never  be  entirely  satisfied  with.  I  still  have  the  independent  cut- 
off, and  the  additional  machinery  to  make  it  variable  will  be  simple  and 
not  liable  to  be  deranged. ' ' 

This  form  of  cut-off  was  a  separate  valve,  sliding  on  a  parti- 
tion plate  between  it  and  the  main  steam  valve,  and  worked  by.  an 
independent  eccentric  and  rock  shaft.  The  upper  arm  of  the 
rock  shaft  was  curved  so  as  to  form  a  radius  arm,  on  which  a 
sliding  block,  forming  the  termination  of  the  upper  valve  rod, 
could  be  adjusted  and  held  at  varying  distances  from  the  axis, 
thus  producing  a  variable  travel  of  the  upper  valve.  This  device 
did  not  give  an  absolutely  perfect  cut-off,  as  it  was  not  operative 
in  backward  gear,  but  when  running  forward  it  would  cut  off 
with  great  accuracy  at  any  point  of  the  stroke,  was  quick  in  its 
movement,  and  economical  in  the  consumption  of  fuel. 

After  a  short  experience  with  this  arrangement  of  the  cut-off, 
the  partition  plate  was  omitted,  and  the  upper  valve  was  made  to 
slide  directly  on  the  lower.  This  was  eventually  found  objec- 


$2  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

tionable  however,  as  the  lower  valve  would  soon  cut  a  hollow  in 
the  valve  face.  Several  unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  to 
remedy  this  defect  by  making  the  lower  valve  of  brass,  with  long 
bearings,  and  making  the  valve  face  of  the  cylinder  of  hardened 


steel ;  finally  however,  the  plan  of  one  valve  on  the  other  was 
abandoned,  and  recourse  was  again  had  to  an  interposed  par- 
tition plate,  as  in  the  original  half-stroke  cut-off. 

Mr.  Baldwin  did  not  adopt  this  form  of  cut-off  without  some 
modification  of  his  own,  and  the  modification  in  this  instance  con- 
sisted of  a  peculiar  device,  patented  September  13,  1835,  for  rais- 
ing and  lowering  the  block  on  the  radius  arm.  A  quadrant  was 
placed  so  that  its  circumference  bore  nearly  against  a  curved  arm 
projecting  down  from  the  sliding  block,  and  which  curved  in 
the  reverse  direction  from  the  quadrant.  Two  steel  straps,  side 
by  side,  were  interposed  between  the  quadrant  and  this  curved 
arm.  One  of  the  straps  was  connected  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
quadrant  and  the  upper  end  of  the  curved  arm;  the  other,  to  the 
upper  end  of  the  quadrant  and  the  lower  end  of  the  curved  arm. 
The  effect  was  the  same  as  if  the  quadrant  and  arm  geared  into 
each  other  in  any  position  by  teeth,  and  theoretically  the  block 
was  kept  steady  in  whatever  position  placed  on  the  radius  arm  of 
the  rock  shaft.  This  was  the  object  sought  to  be  accomplished, 
and  was  stated  in  the  specification  of  the  patent  as  follows : 

"The  principle  of  varying  the  cut-off  by  means  of  a  vibrating  arm  and 
sliding  pivot  block  has  long  been  known,  but  the  contrivances  for  changing 
the  position  of  the  block  upon  the  arm  have  been  very  defective.  The 
radius  of  motion  of  the  link  by  which  the  sliding  block  is  changed  on  the 
arm,  and  the  radius  of  motion  of  that  part  of  the  vibrating  arm  on  which 
the  block  is  placed,  have,  in  this  kind  of  valve  gear,  as  heretofore  con- 
structed, been  different,  which  produced  a  continual  rubbing  of  the  sliding 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  53 

block  upon  the  arm  while  the  arm  is  vibrating ;  and  as  the  block,  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  time,  occupies  one  position  on  the  arm,  and  only  has  to 
be  moved  towards  either  extremity  occasionally,  that  part  of  the  arm  on 
which  the  block  is  most  used  soon  becomes  so  worn  that  the  block  is  loose, 
and  jars." 

This  method  of  varying  the  cut- off  was  first  applied  on  the 
engine  "Belle,"  delivered  to  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Com- 
pany, December  6,  1854,  and  thereafter  was  for  some  time 
employed  by  Mr.  Baldwin.  It  was  found  however,  in  practice, 
that  the  steel  straps  would  stretch  sufficiently  to  allow  them  to 
buckle  and  break,  and  hence  they  were  soon  abandoned,  and 
chains  substituted  between  the  quadrant  and  curved  arm  of  the 
sliding  block.  These  chains  in  turn  proved  little  better,  as  they 
lengthened,  allowing  lost  motion,  or  broke  altogther,  so  that 
eventually  the  quadrant  was  wholly  abandoned,  and  recourse  was 
finally  had  to  the  lever  and  link  for  raising  and  lowering  the 
sliding  block.  As  thus  arranged,  the  cut-off  was  substantially 
what  was  known  as  the  ' '  Cuyahoga  Cut-off, ' '  as  introduced  by 
Mr.  Ethan  Rogers,  of  the  Cuyahoga  Works,  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
except  that  Mr.  Baldwin  used  a  partition  plate  between  the  upper 
and  the  lower  valve. 

But  while  Mr.  Baldwin,  in  common  with  many  other  builders, 
was  thus  resolutely  opposing  the  link  motion,  it  was  nevertheless 
rapidly  gaining  favor  with  railroad  managers.  Engineers  and 
master  mechanics  were  everywhere  learning  to  admire  its  sim- 
plicity, and  were  manifesting  an  enthusiastic  preference  for  en- 
gines so  constructed.  At  length  therefore,  he  was  forced  to  suc- 
cumb; and  the  link  was  applied  to  the  "Pennsylvania,"  one  of 
two  engines  completed  for  the  Central  Railroad  of  Georgia,  in 
February,  1854.  The  other  engine  of  the  order,  the  "New 
Hampshire,"  had  the  variable  cut-off,  and  Mr.  Baldwin,  while 
yielding  to  the  demand  in  the  former  engine,  was  undoubtedly 
sanguine  that  the  working  of  the  latter  would  demonstrate  the 
inferiority  of  the  new  device.  In  this  however  he  was  dis- 
appointed, for  in  the  following  year  the  same  company  ordered 
three  more  engines,  on  which  they  specified  the  link  motion.  In 
1856  seventeen  engines  for  nine  different  companies  had  this  form 
of  valve  gear,  and  its  use  was  thus  incorporated  in  his  practice. 


54  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 

It  was  not,  however,  until  1857  that  he  was  induced  to  adopt  it 
exclusively. 

February  14,  1854,  Mr.  Baldwin  and  Mr.  David  Clark, 
Master  Mechanic  of  the  Mine  Hill  Railroad,  took  out  conjointly  a 
patent  for  a  feed- water  heater,  placed  at  the  base  of  a  locomotive 
chimney,  and  consisting  of  one  large  vertical  flue,  surrounded  by 
a  number  of  smaller  ones.  The  exhaust  steam  was  discharged 
from  the  nozzles  through  the  large  central  flue,  creating  a  draft 
of  the  products  of  combustion  through  the  smaller  surrounding 
flues.  The  pumps  forced  the  feed  water  into  the  chamber  around 
these  flues,  whence  it  passed  to  the  boiler  by  a  pipe  from  the  back 
of  the  stack.  This  heater  was  applied  on  several  engines  for  the 
Mine  Hill  Railroad,  and  on  a  few  other  roads;  but  its  use  was 
exceptional,  and  lasted  only  for  a  year  or  two. 

In  December  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Baldwin  filed  a  caveat 
for  a  variable  exhaust,  operated  automatically,  by  the  pressure  of 
steam,  so  as  to  close  when  the  pressure  was  lowest  in  the  boiler, 
and  open  with  the  increase  of  pressure.  The  device  was  never 
put  in  service. 

The  use  of  coal,  both  bituminous  and  anthracite,  as  a  fuel 
for  locomotives,  had  by  this  time  become  a  practical  success. 
The  economical  combustion  of  bituminous  coal  however,  en- 
gaged considerable  attention.  It  was  felt  that  much  remained  to 
be  accomplished  in  consuming  the  smoke  and  deriving  the  maxi- 
mum of  useful  effect  from  the  fuel.  Mr.  Baird,  who  was  now 
associated  with  Mr.  Baldwin  in  the  management  of  the  business, 
made  this  matter  a  subject  of  careful  study  and  investigation. 
An  experiment  was  conducted  under  his  direction,  by  placing  a 
sheet  iron  deflector  in  the  firebox  of  an  engine  on  the  German - 
town  and  Norristown  Railroad.  The  success  of  the  trial  was 
such  as  to  show  conclusively  that  a  more  complete  combustion 
resulted.  As  however,  a  deflector  formed  by  a  single  plate  of 
iron  would  soon  be  destroyed  by  the  action  of  the  fire,  Mr.  Baird 
proposed  to  use  a  water-leg  projecting  upward  and  backward 
from  the  front  of  the  firebox  under  the  flues.  Drawings  and  a 
model  of  the  device  were  prepared,  with  a  view  of  patenting  it, 
but  subsequently  the  intention  was  abandoned,  Mr.  Baird  con- 
cluding that  a  firebrick  arch  as  a  deflector  to  accomplish  the  same 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  55 


object  was  preferable.  This  was  accordingly  tried  on  two  loco- 
motives built  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  in  1854, 
and  was  found  so  valuable  an  appliance  that  its  use  was  at  once 
established,  and  it  was  put  on  a  number  of  engines  built  for  rail- 
roads in  Cuba  and  elsewhere.  For  several  years  the  firebricks 
were  supported  on  side  plugs;  but  in  1858,  in  the  "Media,"  built 
for  the  West  Chester  and  Philadelphia  Railroad  Company,  water- 
pipes  extending  from  the  crown  obliquely  downward  and  curving 
to  the  sides  of  the  firebox  at  the  bottom,  were  successfully  used 
for  the  purpose. 

The  adoption  of  the  link  motion  may  be  regarded  as  the  di- 
viding line  between  the  present  and  the  early  and  transitional 
stage  of  locomotive  practice.  Changes  since  that  event  have 
been  principally  in  matters  of  detail,  but  it  is  the  gradual 
perfection  of  these  details  which  has  made  the  locomotive 
the  symmetrical,  efficient,  and  wonderfully  complete  piece  of 
mechanism  it  is  to-day.  In  perfecting  these  minutiae,  the 
Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  has  borne  its  part,  and  it  only 
remains  to  state  briefly  its  contributions  in  this  direction. 

The  production  of  the  establishment  during  the  six  years 
from  1855  to  1860,  inclusive,  was  as  follows  :  forty-seven  engines 
in  1855;  fifty-nine  in  1856;  sixty-six  in  1857;  thirty-three  in  1858; 
seventy  in  1859;  and  eighty -three  in  1860.  The  greater  number 
of  these  were  of  the  ordinary  type :  four  drivers  coupled,  and  a 
four-wheeled  truck,  and  varying  in  weight  from  fifteen  ton  en- 
gines, with  cylinders  twelve  by  twenty-two,  to  twenty -seven  ton 
engines,  with  cylinders  sixteen  by  twenty-four.  A  few  ten- 
wheeled  engines  were  built,  as  has  been  previously  noted,  and 
the  remainder  were  the  Baldwin  flexible  truck  six-  and  eight- 
wheels  connected  engines.  The  demand  for  these  however,  was 
now  rapidly  falling  off,  the  ten-wheeled  and  heavy  "  C  "  engines 
taking  their  place,  and  by  1859  they  ceased  to  be  built,  save  in 
exceptional  cases,  as  for  some  foreign  roads,  from  which  orders 
for  this  pattern  were  still  occasionally  received. 

A  few  novelties  characterizing  the  engines  of  this  period 
may  be  mentioned.  Several  engines  built  in  1855  had  cross-flues 
placed  in  the  firebox,  under  the  crown,  in  order  to  increase  the 
heating  surface.  This  feature,  however,  was  found  impracticable 


56  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 


and  was  soon  abandoned.  The  intense  heat  to  which  the  flues 
were  exposed  converted  the  water  contained  in  them  into  highly 
superheated  steam,  which  would  force  its  way  out  through  the 
water  around  the  firebox 'with  violent  ebullitions.  Four  engines 
were  built  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad"  Company,  in  1856-57, 
with  straight  boilers  and  two  domes.  The  "Delano"  grate,  by 
means  of  which  the  coal  was  forced  into  the  firebox  from  below, 
was  applied  on  four  ten-wheeled  engines  for  the  Cleveland  and 
Pittsburg  Railroad  in  1857.  1°  1859  several  engines  were  built 
with  the  form  of  boiler  introduced  on  the  Cumberland  Valley 
Railroad,  in  1851,  by  Mr.  A.  F.  Smith,  and  which  consisted  of  a 
combustion  chamber  in  the  waist  of  the  boiler  next  the  firebox. 
This  form  of  boiler  was  for  some  years  thereafter  largely  used 
in  engines  for  soft  coal.  It  was  at  first  constructed  with  the 
"water-leg,"  which  was  a  vertical  water  space,  connecting  the 
top  and  bottom  sheets  of  the  combustion  chamber,  but  event- 
ually this  feature  was  omitted,  and  an  unobstructed  combustion 
chamber  employed.  Several  engines  were  built  for  the  Philadel- 
phia, Wilmington  and  Baltimore  Railroad  Company,  in  1859  and 
thereafter,  with  the  "Dimpfel"  boiler,  in  which  the  tubes  con- 
tain water,  and  starting  downward  from  the  crown  sheet,  are 
curved  to  the  horizontal,  and  terminate  in  a  narrow  water  space 
next  to  the  smokebox.  The  whole  waist  of  the  boiler,  therefore, 
forms  a  combustion  chamber,  and  the  heat  and  gases,  after 
passing  for  their  whole  length  along  and  around  the  tubes, 
emerge  into  the  lower  part  of  the  smokebox . 

In  1860  an  engine  was  built  for  the  Mine  Hill  Railroad,  with 
a  boiler  of  a  peculiar  form.  The  top  sheets  sloped  upward  from 
both  ends  toward  the  center,  thus  making  a  raised  part  or  hump 
in  the  center.  The  engine  was  designed  to  work  on  heavy  grades, 
and  the  object  sought  by  Mr.  Wilder,  the  superintendent  of  the 
Mine  Hill  Railroad,  was  to  have  the  water  always  at  the  same 
height  in  the  space  from  which  steam  was  drawn,  whether  going 
up  or  down  grade. 

All  these  experiments  are  indicative  of  the  interest  then  pre- 
vailing upon  the  subject  of  coal  burning.  The  result  of 
experience  and  study  had  meantime  satisfied  Mr.  Baldwin  that  to 
burn  soft  coal  successfully  required  no  peculiar  devices ;  that  the 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  57 

ordinary  form  of  boiler,  with  plain  firebox,  was  right,  with 
perhaps  the  addition  of  a  firebrick  deflector ;  and  that  the  secret 
of  the  economical  and  successful  use  of  coal  was  in  the  mode  of 
firing,  rather  than  in  a  different  form  of  furnace. 

The  year  1861  witnessed  a  marked  falling  off  in  the  produc- 
tion. The  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  at  first  unsettled 
business,  and  by  many  it  was  thought  that  railroad  traffic  would 
be  so  largely  reduced  that  the  demand  for  locomotives  must  cease 
altogether.  A  large  number  of  hands  were  discharged  from  the 
Works,  and  only  forty  locomotives  were  turned  out  during  the 
year.  It  was  even  seriously  contemplated  to  turn  the  resources 
of  the  establishment  to  the  manufacture  of  shot  and  shell,  and 
other  munitions  of  war,  the  belief  being  entertained  that  the 
building  of  locomotives  would  have  to  be  altogether  suspended. 
So  far  was  this  from  being  the  case  however,  that  after  the  first 
excitement  had  subsided,  it  was  found  that  the  demand  for  trans- 
portation by  the  General  Government,  and  by  the  branches  of 
trade  and  production  stimulated  by  the  war,  was  likely  to  tax  the 
carrying  capacity  of  the  principal  Northern  railroads  to  the  fullest 
extent.  The  Government  itself  became  a  large  purchaser  of  loco- 
motives, and  it  is  noticeable,  as  indicating  the  increase  of  travel 
and  freight  transportation,  that  heavier  machines  than  had  ever 
before  been  built  became  the  rule.  Seventy-five  engines  were 
sent  from  the  works  in  1862;  ninety-six  in  1863;  one  hundred 
and  thirty  in  1864 ;  and  one  hundred  and  fifteen  in  1865.  During 
two  years  of  this  period,  from  May,  1862,  to  June,  1864,  thirty- 
three  engines  were  built  for  the  United  States  Military  Railroads. 
The  demand  from  the  various  coal-carrying  roads  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  vicinity  was  particularly  active,  and  large  numbers 
of  ten-wheeled  engines,  and  of  the  heaviest  eight- wheeled  four- 
coupled  engines,  were  built.  Of  the  latter  class,  the  majority 
were  fifteen-  and  sixteen-inch  cylinders,  and  of  the  former,  seven- 
teen- and  eighteen -inch  cylinders. 

The  introduction  of  several  important  features  in  construction 
marks  this  period.  Earty  in  1861  four  eighteen-inch  cylinder 
freight  locomotives,  with  six  coupled  wheels,  fifty -two  inches  in 
diameter,  and  a  Bissell  pony  truck  with  radius  bar  in  front,  were 
sent  to  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  Railroad  Company.  This 


HISTORY   OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


was  the  first  instance  of  the  use  of  the  Bissell  truck  in  the 
Baldwin  Works.  These  engines  however,  were  not  of  the 
regular  "Mogul"  type,  as  they  were  only  modifications  of  the 
ten- wheeler,  the  drivers  retaining  the  same  position  wrell  back, 
and  a  pair  of  pony  wheels  on  the  Bissell  plan  taking  the  place  of 
the  ordinary  four-wheeled  truck.  Other  engines  of  the  same  pat- 
tern, but  with  eighteen  and  one-half  inch  cylinders,  were  built 
in  1862-63,  f°r  the  same  company,  and  for  the  Dom  Pedro  II. 
Railway  of  Brazil. 

The  introduction  of  steel  in  locomotive  construction  was  a 
distinguishing  feature  of  the  period.  Steel  tires  were  first  used 
in  the  works  in  1862,  on  some  engines  for  the  Dom  Pedro  II. 
Railway  of  South  America.  Their  general  adoption  on  American 
Railroads  followed  slowly.  No  tires  of  this  material  were  then 
made  in  this  country,  and  it  was  objected  to  their  use  that,  as  it 
took  from  sixty  to  ninety  days  to  import  them,  an  engine,  in 
case  of  a  breakage  of  one  of  its  tires,  might  be  laid  up  useless 
for  several  months.  To  obviate  this  objection,  M.  W.  Baldwin 
&  Co.  imported  five  hundred  steel  tires,  most  of  which  were  kept 
in  stock,  from  which  to  fill  orders. 
The  steel  tires  as  first  used  in  1862,  on 
the  locomotives  for  the  Dom  Pedro 
Segundo  Railway,  were  made  with  a 
' '  shoulder ' '  at  one  edge  of  the  internal 
periphery,  and  were  shrunk  on  the 
wheel  centers.  The  accompanying 
sketch  shows  a  section  of  the  tire  as 
then  used. 

Steel  fireboxes  were  first  built  for 
some  engines  for  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  Company,  in  1861.  English 
steel  of  a  high  temper  was  used,  and 
at  the  first  attempt  the  fireboxes 
cracked  in  fitting  them  in  the  boilers, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  take 
them  out  and  substitute  copper.  American  homogeneous  cast 
steel  was  then  tried  on  engines  231  and  232,  completed  for  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  in  January,  1862,  and  it  was  found  to 


STEEL  T 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  59 

work  successfully.  The  fireboxes  of  nearly  all  engines  thereafter 
built  for  that  road  were  of  this  material,  and  in  1866  its  use  for 
the  purpose  became  general.  It  may  be  added  that  while  all  steel 
sheets  for  fireboxes  or  boilers  are  required  to  be  thoroughly 
annealed  before  delivery,  those  which  are  flanged  or  worked  in 
the  process  of  boiler  construction  are  a  second  time  annealed 
before  riveting. 

Another  feature  of  construction  gradual!}-  adopted  was  the 
placing  of  the  cylinders  horizontally.  This  was  first  done  in  the 
case  of  an  outside-connected  engine,  the  "Ocmulgee,"  which 
was  sent  to  the  Southwestern  Railroad  Company,  of  Georgia,  in 
January,  1858.  This  engine  had  a  square  smokebox,  and  the 
cylinders  were  bolted  horizontally  to  its  sides.  The  plan  of 
casting  the  cylinder  and  half-saddle  in  one  piece  and  fitting 
it  to  the  round  smokebox  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Baldwin, 
and  grew  naturally  out  of  his  original  method  of  construction. 
Mr.  Baldwin  was  the  first  American  builder  to  use  an  outside  cyl- 
inder, and  he  made  it  for  his  early  engines  with  a  circular  flange 
cast  to  it,  by  which  it  could  be  bolted  to  the  boiler.  The 
cylinders  were  gradually  brought  lower,  and  at  a  less  angle,  and 
the  flanges  prolonged  and  enlarged.  In  1852,  three  six-wheels- 
connected  engines,  for  the  Mine  Hill  Railroad  Company,  were 
built  with  the  cylinder  flanges  brought  around  under  the  smoke- 
box  until  they  nearly  met,  the  space  between  them  being  filled 
with  a  sparkbox.  This  was  practical!}'  equivalent  to  making 
the  cylinder  and  half-saddle  in  one  casting.  Subsequently,  on 
other  engines  on  which  the  sparkbox  was  not  used,  the  half- 
saddles  were  cast  so  as  almost  to  meet  under  the  smokebox,  and, 
after  the  cylinders  were  adjusted  in  position,  wedges  were  fitted 
in  the  interstices  and  the  saddles  bolted  together.  It  was  finally 
discovered  that  the  faces  of  the  two  half-saddles  might  be 
planed  and  finished  so  that  they  could  be  bolted  together 
and  bring  the  cylinders  accurately  in  position,  thus  avoiding 
the  troublesome  and  tedious  job  of  adjusting  them  by  chipping 
and  fitting  to  the  boiler  and  frames.  With  this  method  of 
construction,  the  cylinders  were  placed  at  a  less  and  less  angle, 
until  at  length  the  truck  wheels  were  spread  sufficiently, 
on  all  new  or  modified  classes  of  locomotives  in  the  Baldwin 


60  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


list,  to  admit  of  the  cylinders  being  hung  horizontally,  as  is 
the  present  almost  universal  American  practice.  By  the  year 
1865  horizontal  cylinders  were  made  in  all  cases  where  the 
patterns  would  allow  it.  The  advantages  of  this  arrangement 
are  manifestly  in  the  interest  of  simplicity  and  economy,  as  the 
cylinders  are  thus  rights  or  lefts,  indiscriminately,  and  a  single 
pattern  answers  for  either  side. 

A  distinguishing  feature  in  the  method  of  construction  which 
characterizes  these  Works,  is  the  extensive  use  of  a  system  of 
standard  gauges  and  templets,  to  which  all  work  admitting  of 
this  process  is  required  to  be  made.  The  importance  of  this 
arrangement  in  securing  absolute  uniformity  of  essential  parts  in 
all  engines  of  the  same  class  is  manifest,  and  with  the  increased 
production  since  1861  it  became  a  necessity  as  well  as  a  decided 
advantage.  It  has  already  been  noted,  that  as  early  as  1839  Mr. 
Baldwin  felt  the  importance  of  making  all  like  parts  of  similar 
engines  absolutely  uniform  and  interchangeable.  It  was  not  at- 
tempted to  accomplish  this  object,  however,  by  means  of  a  com- 
plete system  of  standard  gauges,  until  many  years  later.  In  1861 
a  beginning  was  made  of  organizing  all  the  departments  of 
manufacture  upon  this  basis,  and  from  it  has  since  grown  an 
elaborate  and  perfected  system,  embracing  all  the  essential  details 
of  construction.  An  independent  department  of  the  Works, 
having  a  separate  foreman  and  an  adequate  force  of  skilled  work- 
men with  special  tools  adapted  to  the  purpose,  is  organized  as 
the  Department  of  Standard  Gauges.  A  system  of  standard 
gauges  and  templets  for  every  description  of  work  to  be  done  is 
made  and  kept  by  this  department.  The  original  templets  are 
kept  as  "standards,"  and  are  never  used  on  the  work  itself,  but 
from  them  exact  duplicates  are  made,  which  are  issued  to  the 
foremen  of  the  various  departments,  and  to  which  all  work  is 
required  to  conform.  The  working  gauges  are  compared  with 
the  standards  at  regular  intervals,  and  absolute  uniformity  is  thus 
maintained.  The  system  is  carried  into  every  possible  important 
detail.  Frames  are  planed  and  slotted  to  gauges,  and  drilled  to 
steel  bushed  templets.  Cylinders  are  bored  and  planed,  and 
steam  ports,  with  valves  and  steam  chests,  finished  and  fitted  to 
gauges.  Tires  are  bored,  centers  turned,  axles  finished,  and 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  6 1 

cross-heads,  guides,  guide  bearers,  pistons,  connecting-  and 
parallel-rods  planed,  slotted,  or  finished  by  the  same  method. 
Every  bolt  about  the  engine  is  made  to  a  gauge,  and  every  hole 
drilled  and  reamed  to  a  templet.  The  result  of  the  system  is 
an  absolute  uniformity  and  interchangeableness  of  parts  in 
engines  of  the  same  class,  insuring  to  the  purchaser  the  minimum 
cost  of  repairs,  and  rendering  possible,  by  the  application  of  this 
method,  the  large  production  which  these  Works  have  accom- 
plished. 

Thus  had  been  developed  and  perfected  the  various  essential 
details  of  existing  locomotive  practice  when  Mr.  Baldwin  died, 
September  7,  1866.  He  had  been  permitted,  in  a  life  of  unusual 
activity  and  energy,  to  witness  the  rise  and  wonderful  increase  of 
a  material  interest  which  had  become  the  distinguishing  feature 
of  the  century.  He  had  done  much,  by  his  own  mechanical 
skill  and  inventive  genius,  to  contribute  to  the  development  of 
that  interest.  His  name  was  as  "  familiar  as  household  words  " 
wherever  on  the  American  continent  the  locomotive  had  pene- 
trated. An  ordinary  ambition  might  well  have  been  satisfied 
with  this  achievement.  But  Mr.  Baldwin's  claim  to  the  remem- 
brance of  his  fellow-men  rests  not  alone  on  the  results  of  his 
mechanical  labors.  A  merely  technical  history,  such  as  this,  is 
not  the  place  to  do  justice  to  his  memory  as  a  man,  as  a  Chris- 
tian, and  as  a  philanthropist ;  yet  the  record  would  be  manifestly 
imperfect,  and  would  fail  properly  to  reflect  the  sentiments  of 
his  business  associates  who  so  long  knew  him  in  all  relations  of 
life,  were  no  reference  made  to  his  many  virtues  and  noble  traits 
of  character.  Mr.  Baldwin  was  a  man  of  sterling  integrity  and 
singular  conscientiousness.  To  do  right,  absolutely  and  unre- 
servedly, in  all  his  relations  with  men,  was  an  instinctive  rule  of 
his  nature.  His  heroic  struggle  to  meet  every  dollar  of  his 
liabilities,  principal  and  interest,  after  his  failure,  consequent 
upon  the  general  financial  crash  in  1837,  constitutes  a  chapter  of 
personal  self-denial  and  determined  effort  which  is  seldom  paral- 
leled in  the  annals  of  commercial  experience.  When  most  men 
would  have  felt  that  an  equitable  compromise  with  creditors  was 
all  that  could  be  demanded  in  view  of  the  general  financial 
embarrassment,  Mr.  Baldwin  insisted  upon  paying  all  claims  in 


62  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

full,  and  succeeded  in  doing  so  only  after  nearly  five  years  of 
unremitting  industry,  close  economy,  and  absolute  personal  sacri- 
fices. As  a  philanthropist  and  a  sincere  and  earnest  Christian, 
zealous  in  every  good  work,  his  memory  is  cherished  by  many 
to  whom  his  contributions  to  locomotive  improvement  are  com- 
paratively unknown.  From  the  earliest  years  of  his  business  life 
the  practice  of  systematic  benevolence  was  made  a  duty  and  a 
pleasure.  His  liberality  constantly  increased  with  his  means. 
Indeed  he  would  unhesitatingly  give  his  notes,  in  large  sums,  for 
charitable  purposes,  when  money  was  absolutely  wanted  to  carry 
on  his  business.  Apart  from  the  thousands  which  he  expended 
in  private  charities,  and  of  which,  of  course,  little  can  be  known, 
Philadelphia  contains  many  monuments  of  his  munificence. 
Early  taking  a  deep  interest  in  all  Christian  effort,  his  contri- 
butions to  missionary  enterprise  and  church  extension  were  on 
the  grandest  scale,  and  grew  with  increasing  wealth.  Numerous 
church  edifices  in  this  city,  of  the  denomination  to  which  he 
belonged,  owe  their  existence  largely  to  his  liberality,  and  two  at 
least  were  projected  and  built  by  him  entirely  at  his  own  cost. 
In  his  mental  character  Mr.  Baldwin  was  a  man  of  remarkable 
firmness  of  purpose.  This  trait  was  strongly  shown  during  his 
mechanical  career,  in  the  persistency  with  which  he  would  work 
at  a  new  improvement  or  resist  an  innovation.  If  he  was  led 
sometimes  to  assume  an  attitude  of  antagonism  to  features  of 
locomotive  construction  which  after-experience  showed  to  be 
valuable,  (and  a  desire  for  historical  accuracy  has  required  the 
mention,  in  previous  pages,  of  several  instances  of  this  kind,)  it 
is  at  least  certain  that  his  opposition  was  based  upon  a  consci- 
entious belief  in  the  mechanical  impolicy  of  the  proposed  changes. 
After  the  death  of  Mr.  Baldwin  the  business  was  reorganized 
in  1867,  under  the  title  of  "The  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works," 
M.  Baird  &  Co.,  proprietors.  Messrs.  George  Burnham  and 
Charles  T.  Parry,  who  had  been  connected  with  the  establishment 
from  an  early  period,  the  former  in  charge  of  the  finances,  and 
the  latter  as  General  Superintendent,  were  associated  with  Mr. 
Baird  in  the  copartnership.  Three  years  later  Messrs.  Edward 
H.  Williams,  William  P.  Henszey,  and  Edward  Longstreth  became 
members  of  the  firm.  Mr.  Williams  had  been  connected  with 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  63 

railway  management  on  various  lines  since  1850.  Mr.  Henszey 
had  been  Mechanical  Engineer,  and  Mr.  Longstreth  the  General 
Superintendent  of  the  works  for  several  years  previously. 

The  production  of  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  from 
1866  to  1871,  both  years  inclusive,  was  as  follows  : 

1866,  one  hundred  and  eighteen  locomotives. 

1867,  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven     " 

1868,  one  hundred  and  twenty-four        " 

1869,  two  hundred  and,  thirty-five 

1870,  two  hundred  and  eighty 

1871,  three  hundred  and  thirty-one        " 

In  July,  1866,  the  engine  "  Consolidation  "  was  built  for  the 
Lehigh  Valley  Railroad,  on  the  plan  and  specification  furnished 
by  Mr.  Alexander  Mitchell,  Master  Mechanic  of  the  Mahanoy 
Division  of  that  Railroad.  This  engine  was  intended  for  working 
the  Mahanoy  plane,  which 
rises  at  the  rate  of  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-three  feet  per 
mile.  The  "Consolidation" 
had  cylinders  twenty  by 
twenty-four,  four  pairs  of 
drivers  connected,  forty-eight  •< CONSOLATION." 

inches   in    diameter,    and    a 

Bissell  pony  truck  in  front,  equalized  with  the  front  drivers.  The 
weight  of  the  engine,  in  working  order,  was  ninety  thousand 
pounds,  of  which  all  but  about  ten  thousand  pounds  was  on  the 
drivers.  This  engine  has  constituted  the  first  of  a  class  to  which 
it  has  given  its  name,  and  "Consolidation"  engines  have  since 
been  constructed  for  a  large  number  of  railways,  not  only  in 
the  United  States,  but  in  Mexico,  Brazil  and  Australia.  Later 
engines  of  the  class  for  the  four  feet  eight  and  a  half  inch  gauge 
have,  however,  been  made  heavier. 

A  class  of  engines  known  as  "  Moguls,"  with  three  pairs  of 
drivers  connected,  and  a  swinging  pony  truck  in  front  equalized 
with  the  forward  drivers,  took  its  rise  in  the  practice  of  this 


64  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN   LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 


establishment  from  the  "E.  A.  Douglas,"  built  for  the  Thomas 
Iron  Company  in  1867.  Several  sizes  of  "Moguls"  have  been 
built,  but  principally  with  cylinders  sixteen  to  nineteen  inches  in 
diameter,  and  twenty-two  or  twenty-four  inches  stroke,  and  with 

drivers  from  forty-four  to  fifty- 
seven  inches  in  diameter.  This 
plan  of  engine  has  rapidly 
grown  in  favor  for  freight  ser- 
vice on  heavy  grades  or  where 
maximum  loads  are  to  be 
moved,  and  has  been  adopted 
••-\io<;ri,"  by  several  leading  lines.  Util- 

izing,  as   it  does,  nearly   the 

entire  weight  of  the  engine  for  adhesion,  the  main  and  back  pairs 
of  drivers  being  equalized  together,  as  also  the  front  drivers  and 
the  pony  wheels,  and  the  construction  of  the  engine  with  swing 
truck  and  one  pair  of  drivers  without  flanges  allowing  it  to 
pass  short  curves  without  difficulty,  the  "Mogul"  is  generally 
accepted  as  a  type  of  engine  especially  adapted  to  the  economical 
working  of  heavy  freight  traffic. 

In  1 867 ,  on  a  number  of  eight- wheeled  four-coupled  engines 
for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  the  four-wheeled  swing  bolster 
truck  was  first  applied,  and  thereafter  a  large  number  of  engines 
have  been  so  constructed.  The  two- wheeled  or  ' '  pony  truck  ' '  has 
been  built  both  on  the  Bissell  plan,  with  double  inclined  slides, 
and  with  the  ordinary  swing  bolster,  and  in  both  cases  with  the 
radius  bar  pivoting  from  a  point  about  four  feet  back  from  the 
center  of  the  truck.  The  four-wheeled  truck  has  been  made  with 
swinging  or  sliding  bolster,  and  both  with  and  without  the  radius 
bar.  Of  the  engines  above  referred  to  as  the  first  on  which  the 
swing  bolster  truck  was  applied,  four  were  for  express  passenger 
service,  with  drivers  sixty-seven  inches  in  diameter,  and  cylinders 
seventeen  by  twenty-four.  One  of  them,  placed  on  the  road 
September  9,  1867,  was  in  constant  service  until  May  14,  1871, 
without  ever  being  off  its  wheels  for  repairs,  making  a  total 
mileage  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  thousand  two  hundred  and 
eighty  miles.  All  of  these  engines  have  their  driving  wheels 
spread  eight  and  one-half  feet  between  centers. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  65 


Steel  flues  were  first  used  in  three  ten -wheeled  freight  engines, 
Numbers  211,  338  and  368,  completed  for  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road in  August,  1868.  Steel  boilers  were  first  made  in  1868  for 
locomotives  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company,  and  the  use 
of  this  material  for  the  barrels  of  boilers  as  well  as  for  the  fire- 
boxes has  now  become  universal  in  American  practice. 

In  1854,  four  engines  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Com- 
pany, the  ' '  Tiger, "  ' '  L,eopard, "  "  Hornet, ' '  and  ' '  Wasp, ' '  were 
built  with  straight  boilers  and  two  domes  each,  and  in  1866  this 
method  of  construction  was  revived,  and  until  about  1880  the 
practice  of  the  establishment  included  both  the  wagon -top  boiler 
with  single  dome,  and  the  straight  boiler  with  one  or  two  domes. 
When  the  straight  boiler  is  used  the  waist  is  made  about  two 
inches  larger  in  diameter  than  that  of  the  wagon-top  form. 
About  equal  space  for  water  and  steam  is  thus  given  in  either 
case,  and  as  the  number  of  flues  is  the  same  in  both  forms,  more 
room  for  the  circulation  of  water  between  the  flues  is  afforded  in 
the  straight  boiler,  on  account  of  its  larger  diameter,  than  in  the 
wagon-top  shape.  Since  1880,  the  use  of  two  domes  has  been 
exceptional,  both  wagon-top  and  straight  boilers  being  con- 
structed with  one  dome. 

In  1868,  a  locomotive  of  three  and  a  half  feet  gauge  was 
constructed  for  the  Averill  Coal  and  Oil  Company,  of  West 
Virginia.  This  was  the  first  narrow  gauge  locomotive  in  the 
practice  of  the  Works. 

In  1869,  three  locomotives  of  the  same  gauge  were  con- 
structed for  the  Uuiao  Valenciana  Railway  of  Brazil,  and  were 
the  first  narrow  gauge  locomotives  constructed  at  these  Works 
for  general  passenger  and  freight  traffic.  In  the  following  year 
the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railway,  of  Colorado,  was  projected 
on  the  three-feet  gauge,  and  the  first  locomotives  for  the  line  were 
designed  and  built  in  1871.  Two  classes,  for  passenger  and 
freight  respectively,  were  constructed.  The  former  were  six- 
wheeled,  four  wheels  coupled  forty  inches  in  diameter,  nine  by 
sixteen  cylinders,  and  weighed  each,  loaded,  about  twenty-five 
thousand  pounds.  The  latter  were  eight- wheeled,  six  wheels 
coupled,  thirty-six  inches  in  diameter,  eleven  by  sixteen  cylinders, 
and  weighed  each,  loaded,  about  thirty-five  thousand  pounds. 


66  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 

Each  had  a  swinging  truck  of  a  single  pair  of  wheels  in  front  of 
the  cylinders.  The  latter  type  has  been  maintained  for  freight 
service  up  to  the  present  time,  but  principally  of  larger  sizes, 
engines  as  heavy  as  fifty  thousand  pounds  having  been  turned 
out.  The  former  type  for  passenger  service  was  found  to  be  too 
small  and  to  be  unsteady  on  the  track,  owing  to  its  comparatively 
short  wheel  base.  It  was  therefore  abandoned,  and  the  ordinary 
"American"  pattern,  eight- wheeled,  four  coupled,  substituted. 
Following  the  engines  for  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railway, 
others  for  other  narrow  gauged  lines  were  called  for,  and  the 
manufacture  of  this  description  of  rolling  stock  soon  assumed 
importance. 

The  ' '  Consolidation  ' '  type,  as  first  introduced  for  the  four 
feet  eight  and  one-half  inches  gauge  in  1866,  was  adapted  to  the 
three  feet  gauge  in  1873.  In  1877,  a  locomotive  qn  this  plan, 
weighing  in  working  order  about  sixty  thousand  pounds,  with 
cylinders  fifteen  by  twenty,  was  built  for  working  the  Garland 
extension  of  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railway,  which  crosses 
the  Rocky  Mountains  with  maximum  grades  of  two  hundred 
and  eleven  feet  per  mile,  and  minimum  curves  of  thirty  degrees. 
The  performance  of  this  locomotive,  the  "  Alamosa,"  is  given  in 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  from  the  then  General  Super- 
intendent of  that  railway : 

DENVER,  Coi<M  August  31,  1877. 

"  On  the  agth  inst.  I  telegraphed  you  from  Veta  Pass — Sangre  de  Cristo 
Mountains — that  engine  'Alamosa'  had  just  hauled  from  Garland  to  the 
Summit  one  baggage  car  and  seven  coaches,  containing  one  hundred  and 
sixty  passengers.  Yesterday  I  received  your  reply  asking  for  particulars,  etc. 

"My  estimate  of  the  weight  was  eighty-five  net  tons,  stretched  over  a 
distance  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  or  including  the  engine,  of  four 
hundred  and  five  feet. 

"The  occasion  of  this  sized  train  was  an  excursion  from  Denver  to 
Garland  and  return.  The  night  before,  in  going  over  from  La  Veta,  we 
had  over  two  hundred  passengers,  but  it  was  but  8  p.  M.,  and  fearing  a 
slippery  rail,  I  put  on  engine  No.  19  as  a  pusher,  although  the  engineer  of 
the  'Alamosa'  said  he  could  haul  the  train,  and  I  believe  he  could  have 
done  so.  The  engine  and  train  took  up  a  few  feet  more  than  the  half  circle 
at  'Mule  Shore,'  where  the  radius  is  one  hundred  and  ninety-three  feet. 
The  engine  worked  splendidly,  and  moved  up  the  two  hundred  and  eleven 
feet  grades  and  around  the  thirty  degree  curves  seemingly  with  as  much 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  67 

ease  as  our  passenger  engines  on  seventy-five  feet  grades  with  three  coaches 
and  baggage  cars. 

"The  'Alamosa'  hauls  regularly  eight  loaded  cars  and  caboose,  about 
one  hundred  net  tons ;  length  of  train  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet. 

' '  The  distance  from  Garland  to  Veta  Pass  is  fourteen  and  one-quarter 
miles,  and  the  time  is  one  hour  and  twenty  minutes. 

"Respectfully  yours, 
(Signed)  W.  W.  BORST,  Supt." 

In  addition  to  narrow  gauge  locomotives  for  the  United 
States,  this  branch  of  the  product  has  included  a  large  number  of 
one-metre  gauge  locomotives  for  Brazil,  three  feet  gauge  loco- 
motives for  Cuba,  Mexico  and  Peru,  and  three  and  one-half  feet 
gauge  stock  for  Costa  Rica,  Nicaragua,  Canada  and  Australia. 

Locomotives  for  single-rail  railroads  were  built  in  1878  and 
early  in  1879,  adapted  respectively  to  the  systems  of  General 
Roy  Stone  and  Mr.  W.  W.  Riley. 

Mine  locomotives,  generally  of  narrow  gauge,  for  under- 
ground work,  and  not  over  five  and  one-half  feet  in  height,  were 
first  built  in  1870.  These  machines  have  generally  been  four- 
wheels-connected,  with  inside  cylinders  and  a  crank  axle.  The 
width  over  all  of  this  plan  is  only  sixteen  inches  greater  than  the 
gauge  of  the  track.  A  number  of  outside-connected  mine  loco- 
motives have,  however,  also  been  constructed.  In  this  pattern 
the  width  is  thirty -two  inches  greater  than  the  gauge  of  the 
track.  A  locomotive  of  twenty  inches  gauge  for  a  gold  mine  in 
California  was  built  in  1876,  and  was  found  entirely  practicable 
and  efficient. 

In  1870,  in  some  locomotives  for  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway 
the  steel  tires  were  shrunk  on  without  being  secured  by  bolts  or 
rivets  in  any  form,  and  since  that  time  this  method  of  putting  on 
tires  has  been  the  rule. 

In  1871,  forty  locomotives  were  constructed  for  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Railway,  the  gauge  of  which  was  changed  from  five 
feet  six  inches  to  four  feet  eight  and  one-half  inches.  The  entire 
lot  of  forty  locomotives  was  completed  and  delivered  in  about 
twelve  weeks.  The  gauge  of  the  road  was  changed  on  July  4, 
and  the  forty  locomotives  went  at  once  into  service  in  operating 
the  line  on  the  standard  gauge. 


68  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


During  the  same  year  two  ' '  double-end ' '  engines  of  Class 
10-26% -C  were  constructed  for  the  Central  Railroad  of  New 
Jersey,  and  were  the  first  of  this  pattern  at  these  Works. 

The  product  of  the  Works,  which  had  been  steadily  increas- 
ing for  some  years  in  sympathy  with  tHe  requirements  of  the 
numerous  new  railroads  which  were  constructing,  reached  three 
hundred  and  thirty-one  locomotives  in  1871,  and  four  hundred 
and  twenty-two  in  1872.  Orders  for  ninety  locomotives  for  the 
Northern  Pacific  Railroad  were  entered  during  1870-71,  and  for 
one  hundred  and  twenty-four  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
during  1872—73,  and  mostly  executed  during  those  years.  A  con- 
tract was  also  made  during  1872  with  the  Veronej-Rostoff  Railway 
of  Russia  for  ten  locomotives  to  burn  Russian  anthracite  coal. 
Six  were  "Moguls,"  with  cylinders  nineteen  by  twenty-four,  and 
driving  wheels  four  and  one-half  feet  diameter;  and  four  were 
passenger  locomotives,  "American"  pattern,  with  cylinders 
seventeen  by  twenty-four,  and  driving  wheels  five  and  one-half 
feet  diameter.  Nine  "American"  pattern  locomotives,  fifteen  by 
twenty-four  cylinders,  and  five  feet  driving  wheels,  were  also 
constructed  in  1872-73  for  the  Hango-Hyvinge  Railway  of 
Finland. 

Early  in  1873,  Mr.  Baird  retired  from  the  business,  having 
sold  his  interest  in  the  Works  to  his  five  partners.  Mr.  Baird 
died  May  19,  1877.  A  new  firm  was  formed  under  the  style  of 
Burnham,  Parry,  Williams  &  Co.,  dating  from  January  i,  1873, 
and  Mr.  John  H.  Converse,  who  had  been  connected  with  the 
Works  since  1870,  became  a  partner.  The  product  of  this  year 
was  four  hundred  and  thirty-seven  locomotives,  the  greatest  in 
the  history  of  the  business.  During  a  part  of  the  year  ten  loco- 
motives per  week  were  turned  out.  Nearly  three  thousand  men 
were  employed.  Forty-five  locomotives  for  the  Grand  Trunk 
Railway  of  Canada  were  built  in  August,  September  and  October, 
1873,  and  all  were  delivered  in  five  weeks  after  shipment  of  the 
first.  As  in  the  case  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Railway, 
previously  noted,  these  were  to  meet  the  requirements  of  a 
change  of  gauge  from  five  and  one-half  feet  to  four  feet  eight 
and  one-half  inches.  In  November,  1873,  under  circumstances 
of  especial  urgency,  a  small  locomotive  for  the  Meier  Iron  Com- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  69 

pany,  of  St.  Louis,  was  wholly  made  from  the  raw  material  in 
sixteen  working  days. 

The  financial  difficulties  which  prevailed  throughout  the 
United  States,  beginning  in  September,  1873,  and  affecting  chiefly 
the  railroad  interests  and  all  branches  of  manufacture  con- 
nected therewith,  operated,  of  course,  to  curtail  the  production  of 
locomotives  for  quite  a  period.  Hence,  only  two  hundred  and 
five  locomotives  were  built  in  1874,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty 
in  1875.  Among  these  may  be  enumerated  two  sample  loco- 
motives for  burning  anthracite  coal  (one  passenger,  sixteen 
by  twenty-four  cylinders,  and  one  "Mogul"  freight,  eighteen  by 
twenty-four  cylinders)  for  the  Technical  Department  of  the  Rus- 
sian Government;  also,  twelve  "Mogul"  freight  locomotives, 
nineteen  by  twenty-four  cylinders,  for  the  Charkoff  Nicolaieff 
Railroad  of  Russia.  A  small  locomotive  to  work  by  compressed 
air,  for  drawing  street  cars,  was  constructed  during  1874  for  the 
Compressed  Air  Locomotive  and  Street  Car  Company,  of  Louis- 
ville, Ky.  It  had  cylinders  seven  by  twelve,  and  four  wheels 
coupled,  thirty  inches  in  diameter.  Another  and  smaller  locomo- 
tive, to  work  by  compressed  air,  was  constructed  three  years  later 
for  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company,  of  Massachusetts,  for  ser- 
vice on  a  track  in  and  about  their  works.  It  had  cylinders  five 
by  ten,  four  wheels  coupled  twenty -four  inches  diameter,  weight, 
seven  thousand  pounds,  and  has  been  successfully  employed  for 
the  work  required. 

The  year  1876,  noted  as  the  year  of  the  Centennial  Interna- 
tional Exhibition,  in  Philadelphia,  brought  some  increase  of  busi- 
ness, and  two  hundred  and  thirty -two  locomotives  were  con- 
structed. An  exhibit  consisting  of  eight  locomotives  was  prepared 
for  this  occasion.  With  the  view  of  illustrating  not  only  the  dif- 
ferent types  of  American  locomotives,  but  the  practice  of  different 
railroads,  the  exhibit  consisted  chiefly  of  locomotives  constructed 
to  fill  orders  from  various  railroad  companies  of  the  United  States 
and  from  the  Imperial  Government  of  Brazil.  A ' '  Consolidation ' ' 
locomotive  for  burning  anthracite  coal,  for  the  Lehigh  Valley 
Railroad,  for  which  line  the  first  locomotive  of  this  type  was 
designed  and  built  in  1866  ;  a  similar  locomotive,  to  burn  bitu- 
minous coal,  and  a  passenger  locomotive  for  the  same  fuel  for 


7O  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

the  Pennsylvania  Railroad;  a  "  Mogul  "  freight  locomotive,  the 
"  Principe  do  Grao  Para,"  for  the  Dom  Pedro  Segundo  Railway, 
of  Brazil ;  and  a  passenger  locomotive  (anthracite  burner)  for  the 
Central  Railroad,  of  New  Jersey,  comprised  the  larger  locomotives 
contributed  by  these  Works  to  the  Exhibition  of  1876.  To  these 
were  added  a  mine  locomotive  and  two  narrow  (three  feet)  gauge 
locomotives  which  were  among  those  used  in  working  the  Cen- 
tennial Narrow  Gauge  Railway.  As  this  line  was  in  many 
respects  unique,  we  subjoin  the  following  extracts  from  an 
account  by  its  General  Manager  of  the  performance  of  the  two 
three  feet  gauge  locomotives : 

"The  gauge  of  the  line  was  three  feet,  with  double  track  three  and  a 
half  miles  long,  or  seven  miles  in  all.  For  its  length,  it  was  probably  the 
most  crooked  road  in  the  world,  being  made  up  almost  wholly  of  curves, 
in  order  to  run  near  all  the  principal  buildings  on  the  Exhibition  grounds. 
Many  of  these  curves  were  on  our  heaviest  grades,  some  having  a  radius  of 
215,  230  and  250  feet  on  grades  of  140  and  155  feet  per  mile.  These  are 
unusually  heavy  grades  and  curves,  and  when  combined  as  we  had  them, 
with  only  a  thirty-five  pound  iron  rail,  made  the  task  for  our  engines 
exceedingly  difficult. 

"Your  locomotive  'Schuylkill,'  Class  8-i8-C  (eight-wheeled,  four  wheels 
coupled  three  and  a  half  feet  diameter;  cylinders,  twelve  by  sixteen; 
weight,  forty-two  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  pounds) ,  began  service 
May  13,  and  made  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  days  to  the  close  of  the 
Exhibition.  The  locomotive  'Delaware,'  Class  8-i8-D  (eight-wheeled,  six 
wheels  coupled  three  feet  diameter ;  cylinders,  twelve  by  sixteen  ;  weight, 
thirty-nine  thousand  pounds) ,  came  into  service  June  9,  and  made  one 
hundred  and  thirty-one  days  to  the  close  of  the  Exhibition.  The  usual 
load  of  each  engine  was  five  eight-wheeled  passenger  cars,  frequently 
carrying  over  one  hundred  passengers  per  car.  On  special  occasions,  as 
many  as  six  and  seven  loaded  cars  have  been  drawn  by  one  of  these  engines. 

"Each  engine  averaged  fully  sixteen  trips  daily,  equal  to  fifty-six 
miles,  and  as  the  stations  were  but  a  short  distance  apart,  the  Westing- 
house  air  brake  was  applied  in  making  one  hundred  and  sixty  daily  stops, 
or  a  total  of  twenty-five  thousand  for  each  engine.  Neither  engine  was 
out  of  service  an  hour,  unless  from  accidents  for  which  they  were  in  no 
way  responsible." 

[NOTE. — Average  weight  of  each  loaded  car  about  twelve  gross  tons.] 

The  year  1876  was  also  marked  by  an  extension  of  locomo- 
tive engineering  to  a  new  field  in  the  practice  of  these  Works. 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  previous  year  an  experimental  steam 


HISTORY  OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  "I 


street  car  was  constructed  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  appli- 
cability of  steam  to  street  railways.  This  car  was  completed  in 
November,  1875,  and  was  tried  for  a  few  days  on  a  street  railway 
in  Philadelphia.  It  was  then  sent  to  Brooklyn,  December  25, 
l&75,  where  it  ran  from  that  time  until  June,  1876.  One  engineer 
ran  the  car  and  kept  it  in  working  order.  Its  consumption  of 
fuel  was  between  seven  and  eight  pounds  of  coal  per  mile  run. 
It  drew  regularly,  night  and  morning,  an  additional  car,  with 
passengers  going  into  New  York  in  the  morning,  and  returning 
at  night.  On  several  occasions,  where  speed  was  practicable, 
the  car  was  run  at  the  rate  of  sixteen  to  eighteen  miles 
per  hour. 

In  June,  1876,  this  car  was  withdrawn  from  the  Atlantic 
Avenue  Railway  of  Brooklyn,  and  placed  on  the  Market  Street 
Railway  of  Philadelphia.  It  worked  on  that  line  with  fair  suc- 
cess, and  very  acceptably  to  the  public,  from  June  till  nearly  the 
close  of  the  Centennial  Exhibition. 

This  original  steam  car  was  built  with  cylinders  under  the 
body  of  the  car,  the  connecting  rods  taking  hold  of  a  crank  axle, 
to  which  the  front  wheels  were  attached.  The  rear  wheels  of  the 
car  were  independent,  and  not  coupled  with  the  front  wheels. 
The  machinery  of  the  car  was  attached  to  an  iron  bed  plate 
bolted  directly  to  the  wooden  framework  of  the  car  body.  The 
experiment  with  this  car  demonstrated  to  the  satisfaction  of  its 
builders  the  mechanical  practicability  of  the  use  of  steam  on 
street  railways,  but  the  defects  developed  by  this  experimental 
car  were:  first,  that  it  was  difficult,  or  impossible,  to  make  a 
crank  axle  which  would  not  break,  the  same  experience  being 
reached  in  this  respect  which  had  already  presented  itself  in  loco- 
motive construction;  second,  it  was  found  that  great  objection 
existed  to  attaching  the  machinery  to  the  wooden  car  body, 
which  was  not  sufficiently  rigid  for  the  purpose,  and  which 
suffered  by  being  racked  and  strained  by  the  working  of  the 
machinery. 

For  these  reasons  this  original  steam  car  was  reconstructed, 
in  accordance  with  the  experience  which  nearly  a  year's  service 
had  suggested.  The  machinery  was  made  "  outside-connected," 
the  same  as  an  ordinary  locomotive,  and  a  strong  iron  frame- 


72  HISTORY   OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


work  was  designed,  entirely  independent  of  the  car  body,  and 
supporting  the  boiler  and  all  the  machinery. 

The  car  as  thus  reconstructed  was  named  the  "Baldwin," 
and  is  shown  by  the  illustration  herewith. 

The  next  step  in  this  direction  was  the  construction  of  a 
separate  "  motor,"  to  which  one  or  more  cars  could  be  attached. 
Such  a  machine,  weighing  about  sixteen  thousand  pounds,  was 
constructed  in  the  fall  of  1876,  and  sent  to  the  Citizens'  Railway 
of  Baltimore,  which  has  the  maximum  grades  of  seven  feet  per 
hundred,  or  three  hundred  and  sixty-nine  and  six-tenths  feet 
per  mile.  It  ascended  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-nine  feet 
grade,  drawing  one  loaded  car,  when  the  tracks  were  covered 


with  mixed  snow  and  dirt  to  a  depth  of  eight  to  ten  inches  in 
places.  Another  and  smaller  motor,  weighing  only  thirteen 
thousand  pounds,  was  constructed  about  the  same  time  for  the 
Urbano  Railway,  of  Havana,  Cuba.  Orders  for  other  similar 
machines  followed,  and  during  the  ensuing  years,  1877-78-79-80, 
one  hundred  and  seven  separate  motors  and  twelve  steam  cars 
were  included  in  the  product.  Various  city  and  suburban  rail- 
ways have  been  constructed  with  the  especial  view  of  employing 
steam  power,  and  have  been  equipped  with  these  machines.  One 
line,  the  Hill  and  West  Dubuque  Street  Railway,  of  Dubuque, 
Iowa,  was  constructed  early  in  1877,  of  three  and  a  half  feet 
gauge  with  a  maximum  gradient  of  nine  in  one  hundred,  and 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  73 


was  worked  exclusively  by  two  of  these  motors.  The  details  and 
character  of  construction  of  these  machines  are  essentially  the 
same  as  locomotive  work,  but  they  are  made  so  as  to  be  substan- 
tially noiseless,  and  to  show  little  or  no  smoke  and  steam  in 
operation . 


Steel  fireboxes  with  vertical  corrugations  in  the  side  sheets 
were  first  made  by  these  Works  early  in  1876,  in  locomotives  for 
the  Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey,  and  for  the  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  and  Western  Railway. 

The  first  American  locomotives  for  New  South  Wales  and 
Queensland  were  constructed  by  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works 
in  1877,  and  have  since  been  succeeded  by  additional  orders. 
Six  locomotives  of  the  ' '  Consolidation  ' '  type  for  three  and  one- 
half  feet  gauge  were  also  constructed  in  the  latter  year  for 
the  Government  Railways  of  New  Zealand,  and  two  freight 
locomotives,  six- wheels-connected,  with  forward  truck,  for  the 
Government  of  Victoria.  Four  similar  locomotives  (ten- wheeled, 
six  coupled,  with  sixteen  by  twenty -four  cylinders)  were  also 
built  during  the  same  year  for  the  Norwegian  State  Railways. 

Forty  heavy  "Mogul"  locomotives  (nineteen  by  twenty- 
four  cylinders,  driving  wheels  four  and  one-half  feet  in  diameter) 
were  constructed  early  in  1878  for  two  Russian  Railways  (the 
Koursk  Charkof  Azof,  and  the  Orel  Griazi) .  The  definite  order 
for  these  locomotives  was  only  received  on  the  sixteenth  of 
December,  1877,  and  as  all  were  required  to  be  delivered  in 
Russia  by  the  following  May,  especial  despatch  was  necessary. 
The  working  force  was  increased  from  eleven  hundred  to  twenty- 
three  hundred  men  in  about  two  weeks.  The  first  of  the  forty 


74  HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

engines  was  erected  and  tried  under  steam  on  January  5th,  three 
weeks  after  receipt  of  order,  and  was  finished,  ready  to  dismantle 
and  pack  for  shipment,  one  week  later.  The  last  engine  of  this 
order  was  completed  February  i3th.  The  forty  engines  were 
thus  constructed  in  about  eight  \veeks,  beside  twenty-eight 
additional  engines  on  other  orders,  which  were  constructed, 
wholly  or  partially,  and  shipped  during  the  same  period. 

Four  tramway  motors  of  twelve  tons  weight  were  built  early 
in  1879,  on  the  order  of  the  New  South  Wales  Government,  for 
a  tramway  having  grades  of  six  per  cent.,  and  running  from  the 
railway  terminus  to  the  Sydney  Kxhibition  Grounds.  Subse- 
quently orders  have  followed  for  additional  motors  for  other 
tramways  in  Sydney. 

The  five  thousandth  locomotive,  finished  in  April,  1880, 
presented  some  novel  features.  It  was  designed  for  fast  passen- 
ger service  on  the  Bound  Brook  line  between  Philadelphia  and 
New  York,  and  to  run  with  a  light  train  at  a  speed  of  sixty  miles 
per  hour,  using  anthracite  coal  as  fuel.  It  had  cylinders  eighteen 
by  twenty-four,  one  pair  of  driving  wheels  six  and  one-half  feet 
in  diameter,  and  a  pair  of  trailing  wheels  forty-five  inches  in 
diameter,  and  equalized  with  the  driving  wheels.  Back  of  the 
driving  wheels  and  over  the  trailing  wheels  space  was  given  for 
a  wide  firebox  (eight  feet  long  by  seven  feet  wide  inside)  as 
required  for  anthracite  coal.  By  an  auxiliary  steam  cylinder 
placed  under  the  waist  of  the  boiler,  just  in  front  of  the  firebox, 
the  bearings  on  the  equalizing  beams  between  trailing  and 
driving  wheels  could  be  changed  to  a  point  forward  of  their 
normal  position,  so  as  to  increase  the  weight  on  the  driving 
wheels  when  required.  The  adhesion  could  thus  be  varied 
between  the  limits  of  thirty-five  thousand  to  forty-five  thousand 
pounds  on  the  single  pair  of  driving  wheels.  This  feature  of  the 
locomotive  was  made  the  subject  of  a  patent. 

In  1 88 1,  a  compressed  air  locomotive  was  constructed  for 
the  Pneumatic  Tramway  Engine  Company,  of  New  York,  on 
plans  prepared  by  Mr.  Robert  Hardie.  Air  tanks  of  steel,  one- 
half  inch  thick,  with  a  capacity  of  four  hundred  and  sixty-five 
cubic  feet,  were  combined  with  an  upright  cylindrical  heater, 
thirty-two  and  five-eighths  inches  in  diameter.  The  weight  of 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  J5 

the  machine  was  thirty-five  thousand  pounds,  of  which  twenty- 
eight  thousand  pounds  were  on  four  driving  wheels,  forty-two 
inches  in  diameter.  The  cylinders  were  twelve  and  one-half 
inches  diameter  by  eighteen  inches  stroke.  Another  novelty  of 
the  year  was  a  steam  car  to  take  the  place  of  a  hand  car. 
Accompanying  illustration  shows  the  design.  Its  cylinders  were 
four  by  ten  inches,  and  wheels  twenty -four  inches  diameter. 
Built  for  standard  gauge  track,  its  weight  in  working  order  was 
five  thousand  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds.  Similar  cars  have 
since  been  constructed.  During  this  year  the  largest  single 
order  ever  placed  on  the  books  was  entered  for  the  Mexican 
National  Construction 
Company.  It  was  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty  locomo- 
tives, but  only  a  portion 
of  them  were  ever  built. 

The    year    1882    was 
marked  by  a  demand  for 
locomotives  greater  than 
could    be    met    by    the 
capacity  of  existing  loco- 
motive works.    Orders  for 
one   thousand  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty-one  locomotives  were   entered   on   the  books 
during  the  year,  deliveries  of  the  greater  part  being  promised 
only  in  the  following  year.     The  six-thousandth  locomotive  was 
completed  in  January  of  this  year,  and  the  seven -thousandth  in 
October,  1883. 

Early  in  1882  an  inquiry  was  received  from  the  Brazilian 
Government  for  locomotives  for  the  Cantagallo  Railway,  which 
were  required  to  meet  the  following  conditions :  to  haul  a  train 
of  forty  gross  tons  of  cars  and  lading  up  a  grade  of  eight  and 
three-tenths  per  cent,  (four  hundred  and  thirty-eight  feet  per 
mile),  occurring  in  combination  with  curves  of  forty  metres 
radius  (one  hundred  and  thirty-one  feet  radius,  or  forty -three  and 
eight-tenths  degrees).  The  line  is  laid  with  heavy  steel  rails, 
and  the  gauge  is  one  and  one-tenth  metres,  or  three  feet  seven 
and  one-third  inches.  The  track  upon  which  it  was  proposed  to 


76  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


run  these  locomotives  is  a  constant  succession  of  reverse  curves, 
it  being  stated  that  ninety-one  curves  of  the  radius  named  occur 
within  a  distance  of  three  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  metres,  or  about  two  miles.  The  line  had  previously  been 
operated  on  the  "Fell"  system,  with  central  rack-rail,  and  it 
was  proposed  to  introduce  locomotives  working  by  ordinary 
adhesion,  utilizing  the  central  rail  for  the  application  of  brake 
power.  An  order  was  eventually  received  to  proceed  with  the 
construction  of  three  locomotives  to  do  this  work.  The  engines 
built  were  of  the  following  general  dimensions,  viz.:  cylinders, 
eighteen  by  twenty  inches;  six  driving  wheels,  connected,  thirty- 
nine  inches  in  diameter;  wheelbase,  nine  feet  six  inches;  boiler, 
fifty-four  inches  in  diameter,  with  one  hundred  and  ninety  flues 
two  inches  diameter,  ten  feet  nine  inches  long;  and  with  side 
tanks,  carried  on  the  locomotive.  In  March,  1883,  they  were 
shipped  from  Philadelphia,  and  on  a  trial  made  October  17,  in 
the  presence  of  the  officials  of  the  road  and  other  prominent 
railway  officers,  the  guaranteed  performance  was  accomplished. 
One  of  the  engines  pulled  a  train  weighing  forty  tons,  composed 
of  three  freight  cars  loaded  with  sleepers,  and  one  passenger  car, 
and  made  the  first  distance  of  eight  kilometres  to  Boca  do  Mato 
with  a  speed  of  twenty -four  kilometres  per  hour ;  from  there  it 
started,  making  easily  an  acclivity  of  eight  and  five-tenths  per 
cent,  in  grade,  and  against  a  curve  of  forty  metres  in  radius. 
Eight  additional  locomotives  for  this  line  were  constructed  at 
intervals  during  the  following  ten  years,  and  the  road  has  been 
worked  by  locomotives  with  ordinary  adhesion  since  their 
adoption  as  above  described. 

In  1885  a  locomotive  was  built  for  the  Dom  Pedro  Segundo 
Railway  of  Brazil,  having  five  pairs  of  driving  wheels  connected, 
and  a  leading  two-wheeled  truck.  From  this  has  arisen  the 
title  "  Decapod"  (having  ten  feet)  as  applied  to  subsequent  loco- 
motives of  this  type.  Its  cylinders  were  twenty -two  by  twenty  - 
six  inches ;  driving  wheels  forty-five  inches  diameter,  and  grouped 
in  a  driving  wheel  base  of  seventeen  feet.  The  rear  flanged 
driving  wheels,  however,  were  given  one-quarter  of  an  inch  more 
total  play  on  the  rails  than  the  next  adjacent  pair;  the  second 
and  third  pairs  were  without  flanges,  and  the  front  pair  was 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  77 

flanged.  The  locomotive  could  therefore  pass  a  curve  of  a  radius 
as  short  as  five  hundred  feet,  the  rails  being  spread  one-half  inch 
wider  than  the  gauge  of  track,  as  is  usual  on  curves.  The  flanges 
of  the  first  and  fourth  pairs  of  driving  wheels,  making  practically 
a  rigid  wheel  base  of  twelve  feet  eight  inches,  determined  the 
friction  on  a  curve.  The  weight  of  the  engine,  in  working  order, 
was  one  hundred  and  forty-one  thousand  pounds,  of  which  one 
hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  pounds  were  on  the  driving 
wheels.  During  this  year  the  first  rack-rail  locomotive  in  the 
practice  of  these  Works  was  constructed  for  the  Ferro  Principe 
do  Grao  Para  Railroad  of  Brazil.  Its  general  dimensions  were: 
cylinders,  twelve  by  twenty  inches;  pitch  line  of  cog-wheel, 
forty-one  and  thirty-five  one-hundreths  inches;  weight,  fifteen 
and  seventy-four  one-hundredths  tons.  Several  additional  similar 
locomotives,  but  of  different  weights,  have  since  been  constructed 
for  the  same  line. 

At  the  close  of  this  year  Mr.  Edward  L,ongstreth  withdrew 
from  the  firm  on  account  of  ill  health,  and  a  new  partnership 
was  formed,  adding  Messrs.  William  C.  Stroud,  William  H. 
Morrow,  and  William  L,.  Austin.  Mr.  Stroud  had  been  con- 
nected with  the  business  since  1867,  first  as  bookkeeper,  and 


Loco 


subsequently  as  Financial  Manager.  Mr.  Morrow,  since  entering 
the  service  in  1871,  had  acquired  a  varied  and  valuable  expe- 
rience, first  in  the  accounts,  then  in  the  department  of  extra 
work,  and  subsequently  as  Assistant  Superintendent,  becoming 
General  Manager  on  Mr.  Longstreth's  retirement.  Mr.  Austin, 
who  entered  the  works  in  1870,  had  for  several  years  been 
assistant  to  Mr.  Henszey  in  all  matters  connected  with  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


designing  of  locomotives.  The  eight-thousandth  locomotive 
was  completed  in  June,  1886.  A  locomotive  for  the  Antofogasta 
Railway  (thirty  inches  gauge)  of  Chili,  constructed  with  outside 
frames,  was  completed  in  November,  1886,  and  is  shown  by 
accompanying  illustration.  The  advantages  of  this  method  of 
construction  of  narrow  gauge  locomotives  in  certain  cases  were 
evidenced  in  the  working  of  this  machine,  in  giving  a  greater 
width  of  firebox  between  the  frames,  and  a  greater  stability  of 
the  engine  due  to  the  outside  journal  bearings. 

In  1887  a  new  form  of  boiler  was  brought  out  in  some  ten- 
wheeled  locomotives  constructed  for  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande 
Railroad.  A  long  wagon-top  was  used,  extending  sufficiently 
forward  of  the  crown  sheet  to  allow  the  dome  to  be  placed  in 
front  of  the  firebox  and  near  the  center  of  the  boiler,  and  the 
crown  sheet  was  supported  by  radial  stays  from  the  outside  shell . 
Many  boilers  of  this  type  have  since  been  constructed. 

Mr.  Charles  T.  Parry,  who  had  been  connected  with  the 
works  almost  from  their  beginning,  and  a  partner  since  1867, 
died  on  July  18,  1887,  after  an  illness  of  several  months. 

The  first  locomotives  for  Japan  were  shipped  in  June,  1887, 
being  two  six -wheeled  engines  of  three  feet  six  inches  gauge 
for  the  Mie  Kie  mines. 

Mr.  William  H.  Morrow,  a  partner  since  January  i,  1886, 
and  who  had  been  previously  associated  with  the  business  since 

1871,  died  February  19,  1888. 
The    demand    for   steam 
»          motors  for  street  railway  ser- 
vice attained  large  proportions 
at  this  period,  and  ninety -five 
were  built   during  the  years 
1 888  and  1 889 .    Two  rack-rail 
locomotives   on    the   Riggen- 
bach  system,  one  with  a  single 

K\<  K   I.OCOM..TIVF    RK:<;ENBACH  SYSTFM  COg-wheel    aild    four    Carrying 

wheels,  and  weighing  in  work- 
ing order  thirty -two  thousand  pounds,  for  the  Corcovado  Rail- 
way, of  Brazil,  and  the  other  having  two  cog-wheels  and  eight 
carrying  wheels,  and  weighing  in  working  order  seventy-nine 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS  79 

thousand  pounds,  for  the  Estrada  de  Ferro  Principe  do  Grao 
Para  of  Brazil,  were  constructed  during  this  year.  The  general 
plans  are  shown  on  page  78. 

In  October,  1889,  the  first  compound  locomotive  in  the 
practice  of  the  Works  was  completed  and  placed  on  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad.  It  was  of  the  four-cylinder  type,  as  designed 
and  patented  by  Mr.  S.  M.  Vauclain,  who  had  been  connected 
with  the  Works  since  1883  and  its  General  Superintendent  since 
February  n,  1886.  The  economy  in  fuel  and  water  and  the  effi- 
ciency in  both  passenger  and  freight  service  given  by  this  design 
led  to  its  introduction  on  many 
leading  railroads.  Following 
the  first  four-cylinder  com- 
pound locomotives  built  in 
1889,  three  were  built  in  1890, 
eighty -two  in  1891,  two  hum 
dred  and  thirteen  in  1892,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  in  1893, 
thirty  in  1894,  fifty-one  in  1895,  one  hundred  and  seventy-three 
during  1896,  eighty -six  in  1897,  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  in 
1898,  and  two  hundred  and  forty-one  in  1899. 

In  1889  a  test  case  was  made  to  see  in  how  short  a  time  a 
locomotive  could  be  built.  On  Saturday,  June  22,  Mr.  Robert 
H .  Coleman  ordered  a  narrow  gauge  ' '  American  ' '  type  passenger 
locomotive  and  tender,  which  it  was  agreed  should  be  ready  for 
service  on  his  railroad  in  Lebanon  County,  Pa.,  by  the  fourth  of 
July  following.  The  boiler  material  was  at  once  ordered  and 
was  received  Tuesday,  June  25.  The  boiler  was  completed  and 
taken  to  the  Erecting  Shop  on  Friday,  June  28,  and  on  Monday, 
July  i,  the  machinery,  frames,  wheels,  etc.,  were  attached  and 
the  locomotive  was  tried  under  steam  in  the  works.  The  tender 
was  completed  the  following  day,  Tuesday,  July  2,  thus  making 
the  record  of  construction  of  a  complete  locomotive  from  the 
raw  material  in  eight  working  days. 

The  manufacture  of  wrought  iron  wheel  centers  for  both 
truck  and  driving  wheels  was  begun  at  this  time  under  patents 
of  Mr.  S.  M.  Vauclain,  Nos.  462,605,  462,606,  and  531,487. 

In  1890  the  first  rack-rail  locomotive  on  the  Abt  system  was 


80  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


constructed  for  the  Pike's  Peak  Railroad,  and  during  this  year 
and  1893  four  locomotives  were  built  for  working  the  grades  of 
that  line,  which  vary  from  eight  to  twenty-five  per  cent.  One  of 

these  locomotives,  weigh- 
ing in  working  order  fifty- 
two  thousand  six  hundred 
and  eighty  pounds,  pushes 
t  w  e  n  t  y  -  fi  v  e  thousand 
pounds  up  the  maximum 
grades  of  one  in  four.  An 
illustration  is  here  given  of 
one  of  these  locomotives, 
which  is  a  four-cylinder  "Compound." 

Three  "Mogul"  locomotives,  of  one  metre  gauge,  fifteen 
by  eighteen  cylinders,  driving  wheels  forty-one  inches  diameter, 
were  completed  and  shipped  in  July,  1890,  for  working  the  Jaffa 
and  Jerusalem  Railway  in  Palestine,  and  two  additional  locomo- 
tives for  the  same  line  were  constructed  in  1892. 

In  1891  the  largest  locomotives  in  the  practice  of  the  Works 
were  designed  and  constructed.     For  the  St.  Clair  Tunnel   of 
the  Grand  Trunk  Railway,  under  the  St.  Clair  River,  four  tank 
locomotives    \vere    supplied, 
each  with  cylinders  twenty- 
two    by   twenty -eight ;     five 
pairs  of  driving  wheels  con- 
nected, fifty  inches  diameter, 
in  a  wheel  base  of  eighteen 
feet  five  inches ;  boiler,  sev- 
enty-four   inches    diameter  ; 
firebox,  eleven  feet  long  by 

three  and  one-half  feet  wide  ;  and  tanks  on  the  boiler  of  twenty- 
one  hundred  and  ten  gallons  capacity.  The  weight  in  working 
order  of  each  engine  was  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  thousand 
eight  hundred  pounds  without  fire  in  firebox.  The  tunnel  is 
six  thousand  feet  long,  with  grades  of  two  per  cent,  at  each 
entrance,  twenty-five  hundred,  and  nineteen  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  long  respectively.  Each  locomotive  was  required  to  take  a 
train  load  of  seven  hundred  and  sixty  tons  exclusive  of  its  own 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  8 1 

weight,  and  in  actual  operation  each  of  these  locomotives  has 
hauled  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-three  loaded  cars  in  one  train 
through  the  tunnel. 

For  the  New  York,  Lake  Erie  and  Western  Railroad,  five 
Compound  locomotives  of  the  ' '  Decapod  ' '  class  were  completed 
in  December,  1891.  Their  general  dimensions  were  as  follows  : 
cylinders,  high  pressure  sixteen  inches,  low  pressure  twenty- 
seven  inches  diameter,  stroke  twenty-eight  inches  ;  five  pairs  of 
driving  wheels  coupled,  fifty  inches  diameter,  in  a  wheel  base  of 
eighteen  feet  ten  inches ;  boiler,  seventy -six  inches  diameter;  three 
hundred  and  fifty-four  tubes,  two  inches  diameter,  twelve  feet 
long;  firebox  (Wootten  type),  eleven  feet  long,  eight  feet  two 
inches  wide  inside ;  com- 
bustion chamber,  thirty -six 
inches  long ;  weight  in  work- 
ing order,  one  hundred  and 
ninety -five  thousand  pounds ; 
weight  on  driving  wheels  one 
hundred  and  seventy-two 
thousand  pounds  ;  weight  of 
eight-wheeled  tender  with 
fuel  and  four  thousand  five 

hundred  gallons  of  water,  eighty-nine  thousand  four  hundred  and 
twenty  pounds.  The  first,  fourth,  and  fifth  pairs  of  driving 
wheels  were  flanged,  but  the  fifth  pair  had  one-fourth  inch 
additional  play  on  the  track.  These  locomotives  are  used  as 
pushers  on  the  Susquehanna  Hill,  where  curves  of  five  degrees 
are  combined  with  grades  of  sixty  feet  per  mile,  doing  the  work 
of  two  ordinary  "Consolidation"  locomotives.  From  one 
thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  one  thousand  three  hundred 
net  tons  of  cars  and  lading,  making  a  train  of  forty-five  loaded 
cars,  are  hauled  by  one  of  these  locomotives  in  connection  with 
a  twenty  by  twenty -four  cylinder  "  Consolidation." 

Mr.  William  C.  Stroud,  who  had  been  a  partner  since  1886, 
died  on  September  21,  1891. 

The  first  locomotives  for  Africa  were  constructed  during  this 
year.  They  were  of  the  "  Mogul  "  type,  with  cylinders  eighteen 
by  twenty -two  inches,  driving  wheels  forty-eight  inches  diameter, 
^and  for  three  feet  six  inches  gauge. 


82  HISTORY   OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 

The  product  of  1892  and  1893  included,  as  novelties,  two 
rack-rail  locomotives  for  a  mountain  railway  near  Florence, 
Italy,  and  twenty-five  compound  "  Fornej^  "  locomotives  for  the 
South  Side  Elevated  Railroad,  of  Chicago.  At  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition  in  Chicago,  May  to  October  inclusive,  an 
exhibit  was  made,  consisting  of  seventeen  locomotives,  as  follows : 

STANDARD  GAUGE. — A  Decapod  locomotive,  similar  to 
those  above  described,  built  in  1891  for  the  New  York,  Lake 
Erie  and  Western  Railroad.  A  high-speed  locomotive  of  new 
type,  with  Vauclain  compound  cylinders,  a  two-wheeled  leading 
truck,  two  pairs  of  driving  wheels,  and  a  pair  of  trailing  wheels 
under  the  firebox.  This  locomotive  was  named  "Columbia," 
and  the  same  name  has  been  applied  to  the  type.  An  express 
passenger  locomotive  of  the  pattern  used  by  the  Central  Railroad 
of  New  Jersey  ;  one  of  the  pattern  used  by  the  Philadelphia  and 
Reading  Railroad,  and  one  of  the  pattern  used  by  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad.  The  three  roads  mentioned  operate  together 
the  "Royal  Blue  Line"  between  New  York  and  Washington. 
A  saddle  tank  double-ender  type  locomotive,  with  steam  windlass 
illustrating  typical  logging  locomotive  practice.  A  single  expan- 
sion, cylinders  eighteen  by  twenty-four  inches,  American  type 
locomotive.  A  single  expansion,  cylinders  nineteen  by  twenty- 
four  inches,  Mogul  locomotive.  A  single  expansion,  cylinders 
twenty  by  twenty-four  inches,  ten-wheeled  freight  locomotive  for 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Southwestern  Railroad.  A  compound  ten- 
wheeled  passenger  locomotive  shown  in  connection  with  a  train 
exhibited  by  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company.  A  compound 
Consolidation  locomotive  for  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Railroad. 
Three  locomotives  were  shown  in  connection  with  the  special 
exhibit  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  viz.,  one  compound, 
one  single  expansion,  and  one  ten-wheeled  passenger  locomotive. 

NARROW  GAUGE. — A  one  metre  gauge  compound  American 
type  locomotive  ;  a  three  feet  gauge  ten-wheeled  compound  loco- 
motive, with  outside  frames,  for  the  Mexican  National  Railroad  ; 
and  a  thirty  inches  gauge  saddle  tank  locomotive  for  mill  or 
furnace  work. 

The  depression  of  business  which  began  in  the  summer 
of  1893,  reduced  the  output  of  the  works  for  that  year  to 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  83 

seven  hundred  and  seventy-two,  and  in  1894  to  three  hundred 
and  thirteen  locomotives.  Karly  in  1895,  a  new  type  of 
passenger  'locomotive  was  brought  out,  illustrated  by  annexed 
cut.  To  this  the  name  "Atlantic"  type  was  given.  The 
advantages  found  in  this  design  are  a  large  boiler,  fitting  the 
engine  for  high  speed  ;  a  firebox  of  liberal  proportions  and  a 
desirable  form  placed  over  the  rear  frames,  but  of  ample 
depth  and  width  ;  and  the  location  of  the  driving  wheels  in 
front  of  the  firebox,  allowing  the  boiler  to  be  placed  lower 
than  in  the  ordinary  "American"  or  "Ten-wheeled  type. 


"ATLANTIC"  TYPE 

For  the  enginemen,  who,  in  this  class  of  locomotive,  ride 
behind,  instead  of  over  the  driving  wheels,  greater  ease  in 
riding,  and  greater  safety  in  case  of  the  breakage  of  a  side- 
rod,  are  important  advantages. 

The  first  electric  locomotive  was  constructed  in  1895, 
and  was  intended  for  experimental  work  for  account  of  the 
North  American  Com- 
pany. The  electrical 
parts  were  designed  by 
Messrs.  Sprague,  Duncan 
&  Hutchison,  Electrical 
Engineers,  New  York. 
Two  other  electric  loco- 
motives for  use  in  con- 
nection with  mining 
operations  were  built  in 
1896,  in  co-operation  with  the  Westinghouse  Electric  Manufac- 
turing Company,  which  supplied  the  electrical  parts. 


ELECTRIC  Locr 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 


A  high-speed  passenger  locomotive,  embracing  several 
novel  features,  was  built  in  1895,  for  service  on  the  New  York 
division  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railroad.  "The  boiler 
was  of  the  Wootten  type,  the  cylinders  were  compound,  thirteen 
and  twenty-two  by  twenty-six,  and  the  driving  wheels  (one  pair) 
were  eighty-four  and  one-quarter  inches  diameter.  The  cut 
below  shows  the  general  design. 

The  weight  of  the  engine  in  working  order  was  as  follows  : 
On  front  truck,  thirty -nine  thousand  pounds  ;  on  trailing  wheels, 
twenty-eight  thousand  pounds ;  on  the  driving  wheels,  forty- 
eight  thousand  pounds.  This  locomotive  and  a  duplicate  built 


HIGH-SPEED  LOCOMOTIVE 

in  the  following  year  have  been  regularly  used  in  passenger 
service,  hauling  from  five  to  eight  cars,  and  making  the  distance 
between  Jersey  City  and  Philadelphia,  ninety  miles,  in  one 
hundred  and  five  minutes,  including  six  stops. 

In  July,  1895,  for  the  San  Domingo  Improvement  Company, 
a  combination  rack  and  adhesion  locomotive  was  constructed, 
having  compound  cylinders  eight  inches  and  thirteen  inches 

diameter  by  eighteen  inches 
stroke  to  operate  two  pairs  of 
coupled  adhesion  wheels,  and 
a  pair  of  single  expansion 
cylinders,  eleven  inches  by 
eighteen  inches,  to  opeiate  a 
single  rack-wheel  constructed 

COMBINATION  RACK  AMD  IDHBSION  LOCOKOTCVB  .-,        \  i  , 

upon  the  Abt  system. 

This  locomotive  was  furnished  with  two  complete  sets  of 
machinery,  entirely  independent  of  each  other,  and  was  built 
with  the  view  eventually  to  remove  the  rack  attachments  and 
operate  the  locomotive  by  adhesion  alone. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


During  the  years  1895  and  1896  contracts  were  executed  for 
several  railroads  in  Russia,  aggregating  one  bunded  and  thirty- 
eight  locomotives  of  the  four-cylinder  compound  type. 

On  January  i,  1896,  Samuel  M.  Vauclain,  Alba  B.  Johnson, 
and  George  Burnham,  Jr.,  were  admitted  to  partnership. 

Two  combination  rack  and  adhesion  locomotives,  for  the 
Penoles  Mining  Company,  of  Mexico,  were  built  in  1896,  having 
compound  cylinders  nine  and  one-half  and  fifteen  inches  diameter 
by  twenty -two  inches  stroke, 
connected  to  the  driving 
wheels  through  walking- 
beams.  Two  pairs  of  wheels 
are  secured  to  the  axles  by 
clutches,  and  act  as  adhesion 
driving  wheels,  and  the  rear 
wheels  are  loose  on  the  axle, 
and  act  only  as  carrying 
wheels.  All  three  coupled  axles  carry  rack  pinions  of  the  Abt 
system.  The  two  pairs  of  adhesion  wheels  are  thrown  into 
operation  by  means  of  the  clutches. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1896,  six  locomotives  were 
built  for  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  for  express  passenger 
service.  One  of  these  locomotives,  No.  1312,  is  here  illustrated. 
They  are  the  ' '  Ten-\vheel ' '  type,  with  cylinders  twenty-one  by 


IN  RACK  AND  ADHESION  LOCOMOTIVE 


TEN-WHEEL  LOCOMOTIVE 
For  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 


twenty -six  inches,  driving  wheels  seventy-eight  inches  diameter, 
and  weigh,  each,  in  working  order,  about  one  hundred  and  forty- 
five  thousand  pounds,  about  one  hundred  and  thirteen  thousand 
pounds  of  which  are  on  the  driving  wrheels.  These  locomotives 


86 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 


have  handled  the  fast  passenger  trains  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
Railroad  running  between  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  Wash- 
ington with  great  efficiency. 

In  the  summer  of  1897,  the  Reading  Railway  placed  a  fast 
train  on  its  Atlantic  City  Division,  allo*wing  fifty -two  minutes 
for  running  time  from  Camden  to  Atlantic  City,  a  distance  of 
fifty-five  and  one-half  miles,  making  the  average  rate  of  speed 
sixty-four  miles  per  hour.  The  trains  averaged  five  and  six  cars, 
having  a  total  weight  of  about  two  hundred  tons,  not  including 


For  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railway 

the  engine  and  tender.  This  train  is  hauled  by  a  locomo- 
tive of  the  Atlantic  type,  having  Vauclain  compound  cylin- 
ders, thirteen  and  twenty-two  inches  in  diameter  by  twenty-six 
inches  stroke,  with  driving  wheels  eighty-four  and  one-quarter 
inches,  and  weighing,  in  working  order  on  driving  wheels, 


CONSOLIDATION  LOCOMOTIVE* 
For  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad 

seventy-eight  thousand  six  hundred  pounds,  the  total  weight  of 
engine  and  tender  complete  being  two  hundred  and  twenty -seven 
thousand  pounds.  The  records  show  that  for  fifty-two  days 
from  July  26.  to  August  31,  1897,  the  average  time  consumed 
on  the  run  was  forty-eight  minutes,  equivalent  to  a  uniform  rate 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  87 


of  speed  from  start  to  stop  of  sixty-nine  miles  per  hour.  On 
one  occasion  the  distance  was  covered  in  forty-six  and  one-half 
minutes,  an  average  of  seventy-one  and  six-tenths  miles  per  hour. 
The  same  train  was  continued  in  service  during  the  season  of 
1898  and  1899  with  equal  results. 

In  November,  1898,  a  locomotive  was  built  for  the  Lehigh 
Valley  Railroad  for  use  on  the  mountain  cut-off  between  Coxton 
and  Fairvew,  near  Wilkesbarre. 

This  locomotive  is  of  the  Consolidation  type,  with  Vauclain 
compound  cylinders,  and  of  the  general  dimensions  following: 
cylinders,  eighteen  and  thirty  inches  diameter,  thirty  inches 
stroke;  driving  wheels,  fifty-five  inches  outside  diameter;  boiler, 
Wootten  type,  eighty  inches  diameter  at  smallest  ring,  with  a 
total  heating  surface  of  four  thousand  one  hundred  and  five 
square  feet ;  weight,  in  working  order,  on  drivers,  two  hundred 
and  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  pounds;  weight, 
total  engine,  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  pounds ; 
tank  capacity,  seven  thousand  gallons;  weight  of  engine  and 
tender  about  three  hundred  and  forty-six  thousand  pounds.  This 
locomotive  was  guaranteed  to  haul  a  load  of  one  thousand  net 
tons,  exclusive  of  the  weight  of  the  engine  and  tender,  on  a 
grade  of  sixty-six  feet  per  mile,  at  an  average  speed  of  seventeen 
miles  per  hour.  It  fulfilled  this  guarantee  and  fourteen  similar 
locomotives  were  subsequently  ordered  by  this  Company. 


ATLANTIC  TYPE  LOCOMOTIVE 
For  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroad 


In  March,  1899,  two  locomotives  were  built  for  the  Chicago, 
Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroad,  for  the  fast  mail  service  west  of 
Chicago.  These  were  of  the  "Atlantic"  type  with  Vauclain 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 


compound  cylinders,  thirteen  and  one-half  and  twenty -three 
inches  in  diameter,  and  twenty-six  inches  stroke  ;  driving  wheels 
eightyjfour  and  one-quarter  inches  in  diameter  ;  weight,  in  work- 
ing order,  eighty-five  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  on 
driving  wheels,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty»nine  thousand  pounds 
total  of  engine.  The  total  weight  of  engine  and  tender  complete 
is  about  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  thousand  pounds. 

Dr.  Edward  H.  Williams,  who  had  been  connected  with  the 
works  as  a  partner  since  1870,  died  December  21,  1899,  at  Santa 
Barbara,  California. 

The  year  1899  was  marked  by  a  large  increase  in  foreign 
business,  notably  in  England  and  France.  Contracts  were  made 
in  England  covering  thirty  locomotives  for  the  Midland  Railway, 
twenty  locomotives  for  the  Great  Northern  Railway,  and  twenty 
locomotives  for  the  Great  Central  Railway.  Ten  locomotives 
were  also  ordered  by  the  French  State  Railways,  and  ten  by  the 
Bone  Guelma  Railway,  in  the  French  colonies  of  Algiers. 


COMPOUND 
For  the 


LOCOMOTIVE 
Railways 


In  the  fall  of  this  year  two  Vauclain  compound  "Consoli- 
dation "  freight  locomotives  were  built  for  the  Bavarian  State 
Railways.  These  were  ordered  as  samples,  the  company  practi- 


For  the  Bavarian  State  Railways 


cally  announcing  its  intention  of  modeling  future  locomotives  for 
their  freight  traffic  after  these  engines.  So  well  did  these  sample 
locomotives  perform  that,  in  the  following  year,  the  manage- 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  89 


ment  decided  to  order  two  passenger  engines  of  the  compound 
"Atlantic"  type,  and  also  embody  in  their  passenger  rolling 
stock  the  new  features  contained  in  these  machines. 

The  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  exhibited  two  locomo- 
tives at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1 900  —  a  "  Goods  ' '  locomo- 
tive, "Mogul"  type,  for  the  Great  Northern  Railway,  of 
England,  and  an  "Atlantic"  type  passenger  locomotive  for  the 
French  State  Railways.  The  exhibit  of  the  French  State  Rail- 
ways also  included  a  compound  ' '  American  ' '  type  passenger 
locomotive  built  by  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works.  These 
engines  were  built  in  the  regular  course  of  business  for  the  com- 
panies whose  names  they  bore,  and  went  into  service  on  these 
roads  immediately  after  the  exposition  was  over.  In  this  year 
also  large  orders  were  filled  for  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railroad,  the 
Paris-Orleans  Railway,  the  Finland  State,  the  Egyptian  State 
and  the  Belgian  State  Railways. 

The  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  witnessed  great 
industrial  prosperity  in  America  and  large  demands  for  rail- 
way freight  transportation.  The  introduction  of  cars  of  large 
capacity  became  general  on  American  railroads,  a  tendency 
which  had  been  gradually  developing  for  some  years.  This 
involved  increased  train  tonnage,  improved  road  beds,  heavier 


COMPOUND   PRAIRIE   TYPE   LOCOMOTIVE 
For  the  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Railway 

rails,  stronger  bridges  and  more  powerful  locomotives.  The 
locomotive  has  always  reflected  the  changes  in  railroad  prac- 
tice. Just  as  the  demand  for  increased  horse  power,  involving 
greater  steaming  capacity  and  a  larger  grate  area,  evolved  the 
'  'Atlantic  ' '  type  engine  from  the  ' '  American  ' '  or  eight-wheeled 


90  HISTORY    OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 

passenger  engine ;  so,  in  order  to  secure  a  locomotive  with 
ample  heating  surface  and  suitable  firebox  to  handle  heavy  trains 
at  high  speed,  the  "  Prairie  "  type  was  designed,  being  a  logical 
development  from  the  "Mogul"  and  "  Ten  -wheeled  "  engines. 
The  "  Prairie  "  type  engine  has  a  leadingvpony  truck,  three  pairs 
of  driving  wheels,  and  a  wide  firebox  extending  over  the  frames 
and  placed  back  of  the  driving  wheels.  To  support  this  over- 
hanging weight,  a  pair  of  trailing  wheels  is  placed  underneath 
the  firebox.  Fifty  locomotives  of  this  type  were  built  for  the 
Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Railway,  and  forty-five  for  the 
Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Railway,  in  1901. 

At  the  Pan-American  Exposition,  held  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
during  this  year,  a  new  departure  in  locomotive  practice  was 
exhibited  by  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works.  This  was  a 
"  Ten  -wheeled  "  locomotive,  built  for  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 


TEN-WHEEL   LOCOMOTIVE 
With  Vanderbilt  Boiler  and   Tende 


road,  the  firebox  and  tender  of  which  were  of  special  construc- 
tion, embodying  the  inventions  of  Mr.  Cornelius  Vanderbilt, 
M.  E.  This  construction  is  briefly  as  follows  : 

The  firebox  is  cylindrical  in  form,  with  annular  corruga- 
tions, its  axis  eccentric  to  that  of  the  boiler.  It  is  suspended  at 
the  rear,  where  it  is  riveted  to  the  back  head  of  the  boiler,  and  is 
supported  at  the  bottom  by  the  mud  rings — otherwise  the  firebox 
is  entirely  disconnected  from  the  outer  shell,  thus  eliminating 
stay  bolts  and  crown  bars,  necessary  to  flat  surfaces  in  usual  con- 
struction. The  ease  with  which  the  firebox  can  be  removed  and 
the  absence  of  the  usual  repairs  incidental  to  the  renewal  of  stay 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  9 1 


bolts  commend  it.  The  feature  of  the  tender  was  a  cylindrical 
instead  of  the  ordinary  U-shaped  tank  placed  back  of  the  coal 
space,  the  advantage  being  a  better  distribution  of  the  weight  in 
the  tender,  a  smaller  proportion  of  dead  weight  to  carrying 
capacity  and  a  more  economical  construction. 

The  year  1901  was  especially  noticeable  for  the  large  volume 
of  domestic  business  handled,  there  being  great  demand  for 
motive  power  from  the  railroads  of  the  West  and  Southwest. 
Large  orders  were  placed  with  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works 
in  this  year  by  the  Union  Pacific  ;  Chicago,  Burlington  and 
Quincy  ;  Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Gulf;  Toledo,  St.  Louis  and 
Western  ;  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  ;  Chicago  and  Alton  ; 
Missouri,  Kansas  and  Texas  ;  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul, 
and  Southern  Pacific  Railroads.  The  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  in 
this  year,  ordered  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  locomotives  of 
various  types  from  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  ;  and  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  also  placed  an  order  for  over  one 
hundred  locomotives. 

In  1901,  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy  -five  loco- 
motives were  built,  of  which  five  hundred  and  twenty-six  were 
compounds,  six  compressed  air  and  forty  -five  electric.  Two 
hundred  and  eight  locomotives,  or  fifteen  and  twelve  one 
hundredths  per  cent,  of  the  total  product,  were  exported.  The 
average  number  of  men  employed  per  week  for  the  whole  year 
was  nine  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-five. 


a 


*.-At**n--  -I^MV*  -  v  v--    J' 


VLANCED   COMPOUND   LOCOMOTIVE 


The  month  of  February,  1902,  witnessed  the  completion  of 
the  twenty-thousandth  locomotive  built  by  the  Baldwin  Locomo- 
tive Works.  This  engine  embodied  several  interesting  features, 


HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


chief  among  which  were  the  compound  cylinders  with  which 
the  locomotive  was  equipped.  These  were  of  the  Vauclain 
system,  but  with  a  new  arrangement,  which  we  will  briefly 
describe,  as  follows  : 

The  cylinders  are  four  in  number,  'two  high  pressure  and 
two  low  pressure.  The  axes  of  the  four  cylinders  are  parallel 
and  in  the  same  horizontal  plane.  The  low-pressure  cylinders 
lie  outside  the  frame  and  the  high-pressure  cylinders  lie  inside 
the  frame  on  each  side  of  the  locomotive.  A  valve  of  the 
balanced  piston  type  controls  the  passage  of  steam  to  each  pair 
of  cylinders,  and  admits  steam  to  the  high-  and  low-pressure 
cylinders  in  such  a  manner  that  the  high-  and  low-pressure 


CROSS  SECTION  OF  BALANCED  COMPOUND  CYLINDERS 

cross-heads  work  in  opposite  directions,  starting  their  stroke  at 
opposite  ends  of  the  guides.  Each  cylinder  has  a  separate 
piston,  and  each  of  the  four  pistons  is  connected  with  a  sepa- 
rate cross-head  working  in  separate  parallel  guides.  The  low- 
pressure  cross-heads  and  guides  on  each  side  of  the  locomotive 
are  located  outside  the  frames,  and  the  cross-head  is  connected 
to  the  main  driving  wheels  (which,  in  this  locomotive,  are  the 
front  wheels).  In  addition,  the  main  axle  has  two  cranks,  set 
at  right  angles  to  each  other,  one  on  each  side  of  the  center  of 


HISTORY   OF    THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS  93 

the  locomotive ;  and  each  crank  is  coupled  to  a  cross-head  of 
one  of  the  high -pressure  pistons.  The  crank  on  the  axle  and 
the  crank  pin  in  the  wheel  for  the  corresponding  high-  and  low- 
pressure  cylinders  are  set  at  an  angle  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
degrees.  The  two  axle  cranks  are  set  at  an  angle  of  ninety 
degrees.  The  result  is  that  the  combined  action  of  each  high- 
and  low-pressure  cylinder  on  one  side  of  the  locomotive  balances 
the  equivalent  action  on  the  opposite  side.  The  perfection  of 
balance  secured  by  the  crank  axle  and  crank  pins  connected 
with  pistons  traveling  in  opposite  directions,  gives  a  machine 
permitting  the  maximum  load  on  driving  wheels  without  detri- 
ment to  the  track,  there  being  no  unbalanced  rotating  weight  in 
the  wheels  tending  either  to  lift  the  wheel  or  exert  additional 
weight  on  the  rail.  The  combination  of  a  large  boiler,  with  the 
perfection  of  balance  obtained  by  this  method  of  arranging  the 
working  gear,  makes  a  locomotive  well  adapted  for  high  speed 
with  heavy  passenger  trains. 

The  construction  of  the  twenty -thousandth  locomotive  and 
the  completion  of  seventy  years  of  continuous  operation  were 
celebrated  on  the  evening  of  Februaty  27,  1902,  at  the  Union 
League,  of  Philadelphia,  by  a  banquet  at  which  two  hundred 
and  fifty  guests,  including  many  of  the  most  representative  men 
in  the  United  States,  were  present. 


DECAPOD   TYPE   LOCOMOTIVE 
For  the  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  Railway 


In  May,  1902,  the  largest  locomotive  ever  built  was  turned 
out  by  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works.  This  was  a  "  Decapod  ' ' 
engine,  built  for  the  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Railway. 
The  total  weight  of  the  engine  alone  was  two  hundred  and  sixty- 


94 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


seven  thousand  eight  hundred  pounds,  of  which  two  hundred 
and  thirty-seven  thousand  eight  hundred  pounds  were  on  the  five 
pairs  of  driving  wheels.  It  was  designed  for  heavy  freight  haul- 
ing on  the  steep  grades  encountered  on  one  section  of  this  road. 
A  locomotive  built  for  the  Bismarck,  Washburn  and  Great 
Falls  Railway  (four  feet  eight  and  one-half  inches  gauge) 
in  this  year,  established  a  type  which  has  assumed  a  perma- 


MIKADO   TYPE   LOCOMOTIVE 
For  the  Bismarck,  Washburn  &  Great  Falls  Railway 

nent  place  in  locomotive  practice.  The  requirement  covered  a 
powerful  locomotive  with  a  firebox  of  large  capacity  and  ample 
grate  area  for  burning  inferior  coal  or  lignite.  To  meet  these 
conditions  a  firebox,  back  of  eight  coupled  wheels  and  over  a 
trailing  truck,  was  provided.  The  illustration  herewith  shows 
the  design.  Some  locomotives  of  similar  plan  having  previously 
been  constructed  for  the  Japan  Railway  Company,  the  name 
"Mikado  "  type  was  adopted  for  the  class.  Fifteen  locomotives 
of  this  type  were  also  built  for  the  Atchison,  Topeka  and 
Santa  Fe  Railway,  in  1902. 


AMHRICAN   TYPE   OIL-BURNING   LOCOMOTIVE 


The7  disco  very   of  large  quantities  of  crude  petroleum  in 
"gushers"  located  in  the  Beaumont  oil  fields,  of  Texas,  caused 


HISTORY    OF  THE    BALDWIN    LOCOMOTIVE    WORKS 


95 


the  railroads  tapping  this  field  to  adopt,  to  some  extent,  this  fuel 
on  their  locomotives.  Oil -burning  locomotives  were  built  for  the 
Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe,  the  Southern  Pacific,  and  the 
Galveston,  Houston  and  Henderson  Railroads,  in  1902. 

With  the  increased  use  of  electrically  driven  trains  for  inter- 
urban,  elevated  and  subway  traffic,  many  orders  were  received 
for  electric  motor  trucks  in  this  year.  Electrical  locomotives, 
both  for  surface  and  mine  haulage,  showed  a  marked  increase 
in  this  year  also,  both  in  variety  of  design  and  the  number 
constructed. 

The  production  during  the  years  from  1872  to  1902  inclusive 
was  as  follows : 


1872  . 

.  422 

1880  . 

•  517 

1888  . 

•  737 

1896  . 

•  547 

1873  • 

•  437 

1881  . 

•  554 

1889  . 

.827 

1897  . 

•  501 

1874. 

.  205 

1882  . 

•563 

1890  . 

•  946 

1898  . 

•  755 

1875  . 

.  130 

1883  . 

•  557 

1891  . 

.  899 

1899  . 

.  901 

1876  . 

.  232 

1884  . 

•  429 

1892  . 

•  73i 

1900  . 

1217 

1877  . 

•  185 

1885  . 

.  242 

1893  . 

•  772 

1901  . 

1375 

1878  . 

.  292 

1886  . 

•  550 

1894  • 

•  3i3 

1902  . 

i53i 

1879  . 

.  298 

1887  . 

•653 

1895  • 

.  401 

The  record  of  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  has  thus 
been  given  for  seventy-two  years  of  existence  and  continuous 
operation. 

Over  twenty-one  thousand  locomotives  have  been  constructed 
since  the  "  Old  Ironsides,"  in  1831.  That  engine  was  nearly  a 
year  in  building.  The  output  in  1902  was  at  the  rate  of  one 
locomotive  every  four  hours. 

The  following  figures  indicate  the  growth  of  the  Works : 

Works  established  .  .  .  1831  n, oooth  locomotive  built,  1890 

i, oooth  locomotive  built,  1 861  i2,oooth  "  1891 

2,oooth  '  1869  1 3, oooth  "  1892 

3, oooth  '  1872  14, oooth  "  1894 

4, oooth  '  1876  1 5, oooth  '  -  "  1896 

5, oooth  '  1880  16, oooth  "  1898 

6, oooth  '  1882  17, oooth  "  1899 

7,oooth  '  1883  18, oooth  "  1900 

8, oooth  '  1886  19, oooth  "  1901 

9, oooth  '  1888  20. oooth  "  1902 

10, oooth  '     1889  2 1, oooth  '                "  1902 


96  HISTORY   OF   THE    BALDWIN   LOCOMOTIVE   WORKS 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that,  while  thirty  years 
were  occupied  in  building  the  first  thousand  locomotives,  over 
1500  were  built  in  the  single  year  of  1902. 

The  present  organization,  based  upon  an  annual  capacity  of 
fifteen  hundred  locomotives,  equal  to  five  locomotives  per  work- 
ing day ,  is  as  follows : 

Number  of  men  employed 13,000 

Hours  of  labor  per  man  per  day  10 

Principal  departments  running  continually,  hours 

per  day 23 

Horse  power  employed  7 ,500 

Number  of  buildings  comprised  in  the  Works  .  33 

Acreage  comprised  in  the  Works 16 

Acreage  of  floor  and  yard  space  comprised  in  the 

Works 30 

Number  of  dynamos  for  furnishing  light,  arc  .  .  u 

"  incandes't  5 

electric  lamps  in  service,  incandescent  4,000 
"  arc  ....  400 
Horse  power  of  electric  motors  employed  for 

power  transmission,  aggregate 5, 300 

Consumption  of  coal,  in  net  tons,  per  week, 

approximately 2,150 

Consumption  of  iron,  in  net  tons,  per  week, 

approximately 3,5°o 

Consumption  of  other  materials,  in  net  tons,  per 

week,  approximately 1,000 

The  location  in  the  largest  manufacturing  city  in  America, 
gives  especial  facilities  and  advantages.  Proximity  to  the  prin- 
cipal coal  and  iron  regions  of  the  country  renders  all  required 
materials  promptly  available.  A  large  permanent  population  of 
skilled  mechanics,  employed  in  similar  branches  in  other  Phila- 
delphia workshops,  gives  an  abundant  force  of  expert  workmen 
from  which  to  draw,  when  necessary.  All  parts  of  locomotives 
and  tenders,  except  the  boiler  and  tank  plates,  chilled  wheels, 
boiler  tubes  and  special  patented  appliances,  are  made  in  the 
main  or  adjunct  Works  from  the  raw  materials. 


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